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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 Hukrs of Inibia 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 SIR WILLIAM WILSON HUNTER, K.C.S.I., CLE. 
 
 M.A. ^Oxford) ; LL.D. (Cambridge) 
 
 LORD HASTINGS
 
 HENRY FROWDE, M.A. 
 
 PUBLISHER- TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK
 
 '«S' 
 
 rr,-|.,ii-...i lor Sir Willium Wllscii lluiiT.Ts 
 
 IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OE INDIA 
 
 'tr^/^ 

 
 <^/^^2^^
 
 RULERS OF INDIA 
 
 ^be Marquees of Ibastinos, 1k.6/ 
 
 and the final overthrow of the 
 marAtha power 
 
 By MAJOR ROSS-OF-BLADENSBURG. C.B. 
 
 COLDSTREAM GUARDS 
 
 O;cforb 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS: 1900
 
 PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 BY HORACE HART, M.A. 
 PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
 
 
 PEEFACE 
 
 In compiling the following sketch of the Indian 
 Administration of the Marquess of Hastings, I have 
 devoted a few pages to the history of that celebrated 
 soldier and statesman, both before and after the period 
 of his rule in the East. In this part of my work, I 
 have been much assisted by Lord Donington, who 
 most kindly placed at my disposal some notes on the 
 life of his distinguished relative. 
 
 The rest of the volume is partly drawn from 
 Mr. Prinsep's History of the Political and Military 
 Transactions in India during the administration 
 of the Marquess of Hastings, 1 813-1823, a vols., 
 London, 1825. Many of the military details of the 
 Pindari and the third and last Maratha war have 
 been taken from Colonel V. Slacker's Memoir of the 
 operations of the British Army in India during the 
 Mardthd war 0/ 181 7, 1818, and 1819, London, 1821. 
 The numerous other authors consulted are referred to 
 in the foot-notes of the following pages. 
 
 J. R. of B. 
 
 EossTREvoK House, Co. Down, 
 September, 1893. 
 
 526889
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. Family History : Wae of American Independ- 
 ence, 1754-81 7 
 
 11. Further Military Services : Political Life : 
 Appointed Governor General of India: 
 1781-1813 25 
 
 III. Condition of India in 181 3 . . • . 43 
 
 IV. The Story op a Treaty : The Gurkha War, 
 
 1814-16 63 
 
 Y. The Gathering of the Storm : Events in Cen- 
 tral India, 1814-16 85 
 
 VI. The Struggle, 181 7: The Pindari War: The 
 
 MakathI Powers rise in revolt . . . 103 
 
 VII. The final overthrow of the MARi.THi. Powers, 
 
 1818-19 132 
 
 VIII. Keconstrdction in Central India and in the 
 
 South-West, 1818-23 158 
 
 IX. Foreign Kelations : Internal Affairs : The 
 
 great case of Palmer and Co. . . . 183 
 
 X. Administrative Reforms : Conclusion : Lord 
 
 Hastings' Work in India .... 200 
 
 Index 219 
 
 NOTE 
 
 The orthography of proper names follows the system adopted by 
 the Indian Government for the Imperial Gazetteer of India. That 
 system, while adhering to the popular spelling of very well-known 
 places, such as Punjab, Poona, Deccan, &c., employs in all other 
 cases the vowels with the following uniform sounds : — 
 
 a, as in woman : d, as in father : i, as in kin : i, as in intrigue : 
 0, as in cold : u, as in hull : li, as in rural.
 
 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Family History. War of American Independence, 
 1754— 1781 
 
 Francis Rawdon-Hastings, afterwards Marquess 
 of Hastings and the Governor-General of India, whose 
 administration there forms the subject of the present 
 memoir, was born on the 9th of December, 1 754. He 
 was the eldest son of John Lord Rawdon by his third 
 wife, Lady Elizabeth Hastings (eldest daughter of 
 Theophilus, ninth Earl of Huntingdon), who, upon 
 the death of her brother, the tenth Earl, in 1789, suc- 
 ceeded to many of the honours and to all the estates 
 of the Hastings family ; these she transmitted to her 
 son Francis, who assumed his mother's surname in 
 addition to his own, and thus united in his own 
 person the representation and the traditions of two 
 illustrious families. 
 
 The Rawdons derive their ancestry from Paulyn de 
 Rawdon, who is said to have commanded a body of 
 archers at the Battle of Hastings, and was rewarded
 
 8 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 by considerable grants of land in Yorkshire, part 
 of which called Rawdon gave the surname which 
 the family assumed. The successors of this Norman 
 maintained their position in the county, and to the 
 present day his representative, Lord Loudoun, has 
 portions of the Conqueror's original grant in his 
 possession^. 
 
 Nineteenth in direct descent from Paulyn, George 
 Rawdon settled in Ireland, where he took a pro- 
 minent part in the rebellion of 1641 as an officer of 
 merit, and afterwards in the affairs of that country ; 
 he was created a Baronet of England in 1665, 
 being denominated of Moira, Co. Down, where his 
 Irish estates lay. His son, Sir Arthur, was dis- 
 tinguished in the troubles of 1688-89, siding with 
 William ; and his great-grandson. Sir John Rawdon, 
 was elevated to the peerage of Ireland in 1750, as 
 Baron Rawdon of Rawdon, Co. Down, and eleven 
 
 * The lands appertaining to the Manor of Rawdon are held by a 
 very curious old rhyming Title-deed which is supposed by some 
 to date from the Conqueror, and which runs as follows : — 
 
 I William Kyng, the thurd yere of my reign 
 
 Give to the Pawlyn Roydon, Hope and Hopetowne 
 
 With all the bounds both up and downe ; 
 
 From Heven to Yerthe, from Yerthe to Hel 
 
 For the and thyn, ther to dwel, 
 
 As truly as this Kyng right is myn ; 
 
 For a crosse bow and an arrow 
 
 When I sal come to hunt on Yarrow. 
 
 And in token that this thing is sooth, 
 
 I bit the whyt wax with my tooth, 
 
 Before Meg, Mawd, and Margery, 
 
 And my thurd sonne, Henry.
 
 FAMILY HISTORY 9 
 
 years later was created Earl of Moira in the same 
 peerage. He married three times^ without male issue 
 by his first and second alliances, but by the third 
 marriage he had, together with other children, a son, 
 Francis, whose career we are about to describe. 
 
 The house of Hastings owes its origin to Robert, 
 Portgrave of Hastings (whence the family name was 
 taken), and dispensator or steward of William the 
 Conqueror. The elder branch of the Portgrave' s 
 descendants rose to considerable eminence in the 
 earlier part of English History ; one of them, John de 
 Hastings, became Seneschal of Aquitaine, and was in 
 1290 an aspirant to the throne of Scotland in right 
 of his grandmother Ada, daughter of David Earl of 
 Huntingdon, and niece of Malcolm IV and William 
 the Lion, kings of Scotland. The gTandson of this 
 Baron, was Laurence, who was created Earl Palatine 
 of Pembroke in 1339, as representative of his great- 
 uncle, Aylmer de Valence, son of William, half-brother 
 of Henry HI. That dignity expired in 1389, upon the 
 death of Laurence's grandson, and the elder branch 
 of the Hastings family became extinct ; but a younger 
 branch sui'vived, and soon became distinguished in 
 the person of Sir William de Hastings, who was born 
 in 1430. 
 
 This Knight was a staunch adherent of the House 
 of York, and upon the accession of Edward IV to the 
 throne was rewarded for his services in the civil war 
 by appointments to many positions of trust and 
 emolument, by large grants of the forfeited estates
 
 lo LORD HASTINGS 
 
 of the Lancastrians, and by a peerage (Barony of 
 Hastings of Ashby de la Zouche), 1461. Hastings, 
 moreover, acquired additional gifts of land through 
 his wife ; and by his ability, bravery, and ifidelity to 
 his sovereign, he became one of the foremost and 
 most influential persons in the kingdom. As Master 
 of the Mint he introduced a new gold coinage ; as 
 a trusted ambassador he took part in missions to 
 France and Burgundy (sometimes for the development 
 of British trade in Flanders) ; and as a military com- 
 mander he was present at the decisive battles of 
 Barnet and Tewkesbury. He was instrumental in 
 bringing Clarence to the king's side just before the 
 battle of Barnet, where Warwick was killed and his 
 schemes annihilated, and he was present at the inter- 
 view between the two brothers which led to so 
 important a result. His end is well known, and has 
 been pourtrayed by Shakespeare in ' King Richard IH,' 
 who took the story of his dramatic death from Sir 
 Thomas More's account as described by Cardinal 
 Morton, an eye-witness to the scene. Hastings was 
 jealous of the queen and of her brother Rivers, but 
 nothing could shake his loyalty to his master's son, 
 Edward V; the Regent Gloucester, unable to bribe 
 him, caused his murder in the Tower, 1483. 
 
 Hastings' son, Edward, increased the family honours 
 by his marriage with Mary, sole heir of Thomas, Baron 
 Hungerford ; and his grandson George, a favourite 
 of Henry VHI, was created Earl of Huntingdon, 
 1529. The latter was succeeded by Francis, who
 
 FAMILY HISTORY II 
 
 married Katherine, eldest daughter of Henry Pole, 
 Lord Montacute, and niece of Cardinal Pole, and 
 hence granddaughter and representative of Margaret, 
 Countess of Salisbury, daughter and heir of George, 
 Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward .IV. Francis 
 attached himself to the fortunes of Warwick, after- 
 wards Duke of Northumberland, and thereby obtained 
 advantages in lands and appointments. To consolidate 
 this alliance he married his heir Henry to his leader's 
 daughter, on the same day that Lady Jane Grey married 
 Lord Guilford Dudley. Huntingdon was fortunate 
 enough, however, not to be involved in Northumber- 
 land's fall, and to escape after a short imprisonment ; 
 he was doubtless protected by his fortunate marriage, 
 by which he gained the interest of Cardinal Pole, nor 
 is it improbable that he was shielded from harm by 
 the influence of his brother who was a strong partisan 
 of Queen Mary ; he was able to conceal his religious 
 opinions in those troublous times, but in his heart he 
 appears to have inclined to Protestantism. 
 
 His daughter Mary received the doubtful compli- 
 ment of an offer of marriage from Ivan IV (the 
 Terrible) of Muscovy, 1583, which, strange to say, 
 seems to have been favourably entertained by Eliza- 
 beth, though it was known that the Tsar had a wife 
 living whom he proposed to repudiate ; it is needless 
 to say that the offer was rejected by the lady^. 
 
 1 Those who are interested in this curious portion of Anglo- 
 Russian History should consult Karamsin, Histoire de V Empire de 
 Russie, traduitepar M. St. Thomas, Paris, 1820, vol. ix. chap. 7.
 
 la LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Henry, son of Francis, succeeded his father as third 
 Earl; he claimed succession to the throne after 
 Elizabeth, in right of his mother ; and in the troubles 
 then raging between rehgious opinions and the claims 
 of heredity, his pretensions were supported by a con- 
 siderable section of the Protestant leaders during the 
 severe illness of Elizabeth in 1562. By religion he 
 was a zealous puritan, a strong sympathiser with the 
 Huguenots, and he 'much wasted his estate by a 
 lavish support of those hot-headed preachers.' He 
 had something to do with the persecution of Mary 
 Queen of Scots, but he had the good sense to perceive 
 that honour, if not policy, must prevent a rival to 
 the throne from taking too open a part against her. 
 He died without issue in 1595, and was succeeded by 
 his brother, whose great-grandson Ferdinando, sixth 
 Earl, flourished in the reign of Charles I, and was 
 brother to Henry, the celebrat'ed Lord Loughborough, 
 an ardent supporter of the king. Ferdinando 's son 
 adhered to the cause of James H, and protested 
 against the Act of Settlement, 1701 ; he was eventually 
 succeeded by his son Theophilus as ninth Earl, who 
 was the father of Lady Elizabeth, third wife of Lord 
 Moira (John, Lord Rawdon), and mother of Francis, 
 the future Ruler of India ^. 
 
 Such in brief is an account of the famihes from 
 which Rawdon sprang, and such some of the tradi- 
 tions which he represented and inherited. But there 
 
 * Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xxv. London, 1891, pp. 
 1 1 5-1 35 ; Hastings. Burke's Peerosre. Lodge's Peero^re 0/ JreZand, 1 789.
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR 13 
 
 were other influences around his youth which helped 
 to shape his mind. Among his ancestors there had 
 been persons of religious zeal and of learning ; his 
 mother is described as having had a strong natural 
 understanding, cultivated by a very refined taste ; her 
 own mother, Selina, daughter of Lord Ferrers, was a 
 person of remarkable talent and character ; she became 
 the patroness of the Methodist reformers (Wesley, 
 Whitfield, &c.) and devoted herself entirely to good 
 works, founding the sect of methodists known as 
 ' Lady Huntingdon's Connection,' — a religious associ- 
 ation at that time much despised by the upper classes 
 of society. 
 
 Francis Rawdon, who in 1761 became known by 
 the courtesy title of Lord Rawdon, was educated at 
 Harrow, when Dr. Sumner was Head Master, and 
 where he was one of the pupils of Dr. Joseph Drury. 
 He evinced early a strong desire to devote himself 
 to a military career, and was gazetted Ensign in the 
 15th Foot in 1 77 1, at the age of seventeen; shortly 
 afterwards he matriculated at University College, 
 Oxford, but took no degree there. Having made 
 the usual continental tour, which in those days was 
 considered to give the finishing touch to the education 
 of a ' young gentleman of quality,' he was promoted 
 to a lieutenancy in the 5th Foot in 1773, and em- 
 barked immediately for America to take part in the 
 War of Lidependence. 
 
 He spent nearly eight years in America, and there 
 he gained his first great experiences of life. When he
 
 14 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 landed (about the beginning of 1774) the colonists 
 were seething in excitement ; the cargoes of tea 
 had just been destroyed at Boston, and the crisis 
 was about to reach its climax, — soon to be solved 
 by war. In the troubles that followed he distin- 
 guished himself, and displayed qualities of no mean 
 order; he had to undertake responsible duties, and 
 these he "discharged with ability, firmness, and 
 courage ; in America he laid the foundation of his 
 subsequent career. The school in which he received 
 this early training, was one of adversity and de- 
 pression, well nigh of despair. The struggle was 
 a fratricidal one ; the British commanders were men 
 of inferior capacity; the support they received from 
 home was half-hearted ; they were opposed to leaders 
 of energy and of genuine enthusiasm ; they were con- 
 fronted by a hostile population which refused to be 
 conciliated and which was not to be trusted. 
 
 The British army, unaccustomed to reverses, was 
 harassed and humiliated ; raw levies were gaining on 
 seasoned troops ; battle after battle was won by the 
 British forces, and yet no advantage followed ; skir- 
 mishes were lost, and immediately the Royalists had 
 to evacuate a province. No progress was made, and 
 finally the Colonies separated themselves for ever 
 from the British Crown. 
 
 Rawdon took part in the Battle of Bunker's Hill in 
 June, 1775, where he first saw active service, and 
 there he displayed such conspicuous gallantry as to 
 attract special notice from General Burgoyne, who in
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR 15 
 
 a letter written to England said, * Lord Eawdon has 
 this day stamped his fame for life.' A month later 
 he was promoted Captain in the 63rd Foot, and 
 soon afterwards was appointed aide-de-camp to Sir 
 Henry Clinton. The following year he was present 
 at the taking of Brooklyn, at the action of the White 
 Plains, and was with the invading column under 
 Lord Cornwallis which temporarily subjugated New 
 Jersey and reached Trenton. 
 
 In the year 1777 he was again with Cornwallis 
 when Philadelphia was occupied, and there he raised 
 a Regiment of Irish Volunteers, drawn from the same 
 sources from which the American levies were mainly 
 recruited. He commanded this regiment till he left 
 the country in 1781, and under his leadership it 
 greatly distinguished itself, especially at the Battles 
 of Camden and Hobkirk's Hill, where it lost heavily. 
 Rawdon had, however, great difficulties with his men 
 at first, owing to the numerous desertions that oc- 
 curred among them ; but he soon put an end to this 
 trouble, by the following expedient. A man was 
 caught in the act of going over to the enemy ; instead 
 of trying him by court-martial, Rawdon brought 
 him on parade before the whole regiment, and de- 
 livered him over to his comrades, in the most im- 
 pressive way, to be judged, and punished or acquitted. 
 The officers were all ordered to withdraw, and in a 
 short time the ofiender was convicted and immediately 
 hanged on the next tree. Desertion thenceforward 
 was almost unknown among the men of the Iiish
 
 1 6 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Volunteers*. In June, 1778, Philadelphia was eva- 
 cuated and a retreat effected to New York ; Cornwallis 
 commanded the rear guard, and Rawdon, who was 
 still with him, took part in the action of Monmouth 
 (28th June), 
 
 By this time he had been promoted Lieut.-Colonel, 
 15th June, and shortly afterwards he was appointed 
 Adjutant-General to the British Forces in America, 
 The same year (1778) Georgia had been cleared of the 
 enemy; but it was not until the end of 1779 that the 
 departure of the French Fleet enabled Sir H. Clinton, 
 the Commander-in-Chief at that time, to proceed with 
 the subjugation of the southern provinces. Clinton 
 sailed from New York, and reaching Charleston, to 
 which he proposed to lay siege, ordered Rawdon to 
 join him there with a brigade of some 3,000 men. 
 The trenches were opened before the town in April, 
 1780, and the place taken in May, after which three 
 columns were sent to Camden, Ninety-Six, and 
 Augusta, to occupy the Colony. Clinton then returned 
 to New York, leaving Cornwallis with 4,000 regulars 
 to hold the conquered districts and to reduce North 
 Carolina to the King's authority. Rawdon remained 
 in the south, and was ordered to Camden in com- 
 mand of the advanced troops near the frontier between 
 the two Carolinas. 
 
 His task was a trying one, for the Americans under 
 General Gates collected a strong force with secrecy, 
 and were bearing down upon him ; meanwhile 
 
 ^ The Annual Biography and Obituary, for the year 1828, xii, 144.
 
 J 
 
 yf THE AMERICAN WAR 1 7 
 
 Sumpter, a determined Colonial leader, at the head of 
 some partisans, attacked a post at Hanging Rock, on 
 the 6th August, and nearly captured it. This news 
 brought Cornwallis to Camden, where Rawdon was 
 concentrating his forces and constructing defensive 
 works, and on the i6th, Gates was engaged and was 
 completely defeated, losing all his artillery and most 
 of his baggage. Two days later Sumpter's force was 
 also cut to pieces ^. 
 
 No victory could be more complete, and Cornwallis 
 now determined to advance into North Carolina ; but 
 his force was weak, sickness prevailed, and transport 
 was deficient. He met with little resistance, and was 
 pushing on towards Salisbury, when he heard of the 
 total destruction, 9th October, at King's Mountain, 
 of a body of Loyalist Militia, nearly 1,000 strong, 
 under Major Ferguson, who had pursued an American 
 partisan force which was forming near Ninety-Six. 
 The disaster dispirited the royalists and obliged the 
 British to retire ; the retreat was not effected with- 
 out loss, provisions failed, the roads were almost 
 impassable, and the hostile militia hung upon the 
 march; Cornwallis was suffering from fever, and so 
 the command devolved upon Rawdon. On the 29th 
 October, Winnsborough was reached and the army 
 was reformed. 
 
 Clinton having heard of the success at Camden, 
 
 ^ Bancroft's Hist, of the United States, London, 1874, x. 309,- &c. The 
 Cornwallis Correspondence, 3 vols., London, 1859, i. 55, &c., and 
 Appendix, Nos. II. and III. 
 
 B
 
 l8 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 sent General Leslie with a,ooo men to create a diver- 
 sion on the Chesapeake, but eventually this rein- 
 forcement was landed at Charleston on the 13th 
 December, and a fresh advance was made into North 
 Carolina in January, 1781. The campaign began 
 inauspiciously, for a detachment covering the left 
 flank suflfered a severe defeat at Cowpens, by which 
 some 600 men were lost, 17th January; the march 
 was nevertheless continued, and after an action on the 
 Catawba, Hillsborough was occupied, 20th February. 
 Cornwallis now hoped to be able to rally the royalists 
 of North Carohna, but he failed, as they were either 
 disheartened or non-existent, and owing to the energy 
 of the American general, Greene, his supplies were 
 cut off and his levies dispersed. He was now obliged 
 to fall back upon the Deep Kiver, but not for long, 
 for, advancing again towards Guilford, he met 
 Greene at the head of 5,000 men, and defeated him, 
 15th March. This victory was entirely useless, and 
 four days later Cornwallis, perceiving that his force 
 was inadequate to maintain its position, and that the 
 Royal cause was without hope in the colony, took 
 the desperate step of retreating down Cape Fear 
 river, and reached Wilmington on the 7th April, with 
 little more than 1,000 men. On the 25th he finally 
 abandoned the southern provinces by marching north- 
 wards along the coast to Virginia, to effect a junction 
 with another British force which had been sent to the 
 Chesapeake to co-operate with him from that direction. 
 Meanwhile Rawdon was left in command in South
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR I9 
 
 Carolina with five regiments of regulars and ten 
 provincial corps. Communications with the main 
 army were fairly secure until the middle of March, 
 when all trace of it was lost and Rawdon had to act 
 for himself. Cornwallis did not disguise from himself 
 that he left the troops in the south in great danger, 
 and exposed to attack from Greene who was free to 
 operate against them. He had good cause for extreme 
 anxiety, for Rawdon's position was most critical ; the 
 British forces were weak, the country to be held was 
 large, and the detachments necessarily far apart, a 
 hostile column was in front, irregular detachments 
 were threatening the flanks, and the population was 
 rising in the rear. A few points only of the interesting 
 operations which followed can be noted here, but 
 sufficient, it is hoped, to show the temper and the 
 quality of the man (who was in the future to govern 
 the Indian Empu-e), when pitted against the general 
 considered by the Americans to be second only to 
 Washington himself. 
 
 Rawdon's fii'st care was to concentrate, and he 
 resolved to do so at Camden ; but before he could 
 accomplish this operation, Greene appeared in the 
 neighbourhood with 1,800 men. Fearing lest he should 
 soon be reinforced, and seizing a favourable oppor- 
 tunity, the British commander advanced with only 
 800 men, and surprised him at Hobkirk's Hill, where 
 he was strongly posted (25th April). The British 
 troops took a circuitous route through thick woods, 
 and were obliged to move on a narrow front ; the 
 
 B 3
 
 ao LORD HASTINGS 
 
 enemy, having barely time to form, met the attack 
 by grape, and under cover of their artillery, attempted 
 to charge ; but the assaulting columns were im- 
 mediately deployed, and having very soon dispersed 
 the Americans, the latter were defeated with loss. 
 Brilliant as the success was, it brought Kawdon only 
 a small measure of relief, for the province was swarm- 
 ing with the enemy's partisans and post after post 
 was capitulating ; he profited by his victory, however, 
 in so far that he completed his concentration (7th May), 
 and then having made a dash at Greene, he evacuated 
 Camden and crossed the Santee river. Arrived there, 
 he heard the worst accounts of the state of the 
 province ; the revolt was universal, and Charleston 
 itself was not free from danger, but being of opinion 
 that offence is good defence, he recrossed the Santee 
 to disperse the enemy who were now gathering thick 
 about him. He could get no information from the 
 inhabitants, and his difficulties were increasing, so 
 much so that believing Greene had got round his rear, 
 he retraced his steps and took up a position at Monks 
 Corner, where he covered Charleston. 
 
 The important post at Ninety-Six was by this time 
 completely exposed to the enemy, and was invested 
 by Greene, 22nd May. Rawdon had previously sent 
 many messengers by various routes to the com- 
 mandant ordering him to evacuate it, but none of 
 these reached their destination. To add to his troubles 
 the British Army, notwithstanding its exhausted con- 
 dition, had been further weakened by the absence of
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR 21 
 
 a regiment which he sent to Savannah, where the 
 royalists were in great difficulties. It was therefore 
 most fortunate when three Irish regiments landed at 
 Charleston on the 3rd June. Rawdon, now able to 
 act, advanced promptly with this unexpected rein- 
 forcement to Ninety-Six, where he raised the siege, 
 and then pursued the enemy for forty miles beyond 
 that station, while they, not venturing even to meet 
 him, retreated with the utmost precipitation. Ninety- 
 Six was evacuated like Camden, and as the arrange- 
 ments were being carried out by the commandant, 
 Rawdon marched with 800 men, and a few horsemen, 
 to harass Greene still further, and ordered a detach- 
 ment from Charleston to join him for this purpose 
 on the 3rd July. 
 
 The order miscarried, and Greene intercepting a 
 messenger, knew it had miscarried ; he accordingly 
 hoped to surround the British commander, but the 
 latter moved so rapidly that he missed his chance, 
 and only captured a few dragoons. When too late, 
 and when the English did eventually receive some 
 reinforcements, he came up with them (10th July), 
 but having reconnoitred their position, he found it 
 too strong and retreated again in haste. Shortly 
 afterwards the detachment from Ninety-Six reached 
 the British lines ; and thus the bulk of the army in 
 South Carolina which, in April, was scattered through 
 a hostile province, in isolated bodies and opposed to a 
 formidable enemy, was withdrawn from its perilous 
 position, and was, in July, safely reunited and con-
 
 2i LORD HASTINGS 
 
 centrated near Charleston, by the prudence and energy 
 of its young commander ^ 
 
 The war now languished ; the Americans occupied 
 the high hills of the Santee ; the British held the 
 line of the Santee, the Congaree, and the Edisto ; 
 both sides were exhausted, and the weather was 
 oppressively hot. Rawdon, whose health had broken 
 down, was obliged to return to Europe. The ship 
 he sailed in was captured by a French cruiser, and 
 he was taken to Brest ; but being soon exchanged, he 
 reached England in safety. In November, 1782, 
 he was promoted Colonel, and appointed aide-de-camp 
 to the King. 
 
 Although he naturally acquired great credit from 
 his gallant conduct in America, yet he was accused of 
 having dealt harshly and cruelly with the enemy. 
 This charge was baseless, but nevertheless it gave him 
 considerable pain. In February, 1782, a motion was 
 defeated in the House of Lords, by a very large 
 majority, by which it was sought to condemn the 
 execution of a certain American, Isaac Haynes, who 
 was taken in arms after having given his parole ; 
 Rawdon, who was in command at the time, and who 
 really sought to save the man, was so incensed at 
 this reflection upon his character, that he demanded 
 and obtained a public apology from the mover. 
 Those who have read Bancroft's account of the 
 war, will perceive that it contains assertions of 
 
 ^ Annual Register, 1781 {B.ist. of Europe), chap. v. Bancroft's 
 Hist of the United States, x. 483, &c.
 
 THE AMERICAN WAR 23 
 
 British cruelty and of American forbearance. Im- 
 partial readers will probably form a more moderate 
 opinion, and conclude that in all civil wars — where 
 feeling runs high, and where the population is drawn 
 into the struggle — there is likely to be some harshness 
 on both sides. In fact, if the Americans had to complain, 
 BO also had the English military authorities bitterly 
 to protest against the barbarities practised by their 
 opponents. 
 
 But the most important accusation comes from 
 Washington, who, in October, 1780, wrote to Clinton 
 impeaching the acts of both Cornwallis and Rawdon ; 
 as Washington was not opposed to those commanders 
 at the time, it is to be inferred that he spoke not of 
 his own knowledge, but reproduced what others (not 
 so fair-minded perhaps as himself) had reported to 
 him. Both the officers concerned vehemently repu- 
 diated the aspersions cast upon them, and Rawdon 
 remarks sarcastically, * the rebels have by the rigour 
 of their administration reaped too many advantages 
 over our forbearance to wish that we should affect 
 more energy^.' Even Bancroft does not deny that 
 treachery was practised against the British, and 
 quotes a case with apparent satisfaction, where a 
 militia commander waited till his men were supplied 
 with arms and ammunition, and then conducted them 
 over to the enemy 2. This was no solitary instance; 
 on the contrary, constant and persistent efforts were 
 
 ^ Cornwallis Correspondence, i. 60, 72, 501. 
 . * Bancroft's Hist, of the United States, x. 313.
 
 34 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 made to undermine the allegiance of the royalist 
 levies. The English, therefore, were merely carrying 
 out the ordinary customs of war, adopted by all 
 belligerents for their own protection, and they had 
 necessarily to punish spies and those who deserted or 
 caused others to desert. Had the commanders not 
 taken effective means to repress this class of perfidy, 
 which occurs too often in all civil wars, they would 
 have failed in their duty ; to accuse them of want of 
 humanity is the mere trick of an. interested partisan.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Further Military Services; Political Life; 
 APPOINTED Governor-General of India 
 
 1781 — 1813 
 
 When a man has greatly distinguished himself in 
 his youth, and has proved himself in later years to be 
 a statesman of capacity, an administrator of merit, 
 and a ruler of energy, it is not often that his middle 
 life should be nearly a blank. Yet this is what 
 happened in Rawdon's case, for from 1781 to 181 2, 
 though he performed acts worthy of notice, he made 
 no persevering effort to cultivate his natural endow- 
 ments, and never rose above mediocrity. Nor were 
 opportunities wanting, for it was precisely in those 
 years that talent had a full field for labour ; and as, 
 by his family connections and by his personal 
 character, he was in a position to obtain and profit 
 by high employment in the public service, so is the 
 break in his career which now took place all the 
 more remarkable. 
 
 On reaching England, he found that in his absence 
 in America he had been returned member for Randals-
 
 26 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 town, Co. Antrim, to the Irish House of Commons, 
 and early in 1783 he was raised to the peerage of 
 Great Britain under the title of Baron Rawdon of 
 Rawdon, Co. York ; but beyond speaking against 
 Fox^s India Bill in December, he appears during 
 four years to have taken little part in politics. 
 Meantime he became warmly attached to the Prince 
 of Wales and to his cause ; he gradually estranged 
 himself from Pitt, whose party he had at first sup- 
 ported, and in 1787 he openly joined the opposition. 
 He was certainly ambitious, and dreamt of power, 
 but he also sought and stipulated for independence, 
 and he endeavoured to make a position for himself, 
 with a party of his own, by coming prominently 
 forward to advocate the interests of the Prince on the 
 Regency question. The recovery of the King, early 
 in 1789, frustrated the hopes he entertained, and he 
 does not appear again in political life until 1797. 
 He still, however, took an interest in some public 
 questions, and, in 1793, attempted unsuccessfully to 
 alter the harsh laws then prevailing against insolvent 
 debtors. 
 
 On account of his intimacy with the Prince of 
 Wales and his brothers, and it is stated by some, at 
 the personal request of the King, he acted as second 
 to the Duke of York in the duel which took place 
 between the latter and Colonel Lennox (afterwards 
 Duke of Richmond), in May, 1789. He maintained 
 afterwards that having delayed the signal, he ren- 
 dered Lennox's aim unsteady, and thus saved the
 
 MILITARY SERVICES Vj 
 
 life of the Duke who had determined not to fire at his 
 opponent i. 
 
 By the death of his father, June 1793, Eawdon 
 succeeded as second Earl of Moira in the peerage of 
 Ireland. In the following October he was promoted 
 Major-General, and shortly afterwards he undertook 
 an expedition to La Vendue, to support the attempt 
 there being made to overturn the revolution in 
 France. This expedition proved a failure and the 
 troops did not even land ; one of the bravest of the 
 insurgent chiefs, La Rochejaquelein, had just been 
 killed, and disunion reigned among the remainder, the 
 people at that time distrusting them so far as to imagine 
 that their leaders would desert in the British ships. 
 
 The next year, the army in Flanders under the 
 Duke of York was in difficulties ; the allies, among 
 whom there was little concerted action or cordiality, 
 were being driven back by the ardour of the revolu- 
 tionary armies of France. On the i8th May the 
 Duke was defeated, and although he avenged this 
 reverse four days later, yet he became involved in 
 the general disasters of the campaign. Ypres fell on 
 the 17th June, and the British were obliged to retreat 
 upon Oudenarde and on the 3rd July upon Antwerp. 
 On the 26th June the battle of Fleurus made the 
 position of the allies desperate. Lord Moira was 
 about this time encamped near Southampton with 
 
 ' An interesting and detailed account of this celebrated duel is to 
 be found in Colonel Mackinnon's Rist. of the Origin and Services of the 
 Coldstream Guards, ii. 30.
 
 28 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 10,000 men, preparing for a secret expedition to 
 France. The disasters in Flanders, however, caused 
 his destination to be changed. He sailed to Ostend, 
 and landing towards the end of June, he determined 
 to push on at once to the assistance of the Duke. 
 Ostend had to be evacuated, and the French entered 
 it the same day, 1st July, the garrison being trans- 
 ferred by sea to Flushing; but, before that date, 
 Moira started into the interior, and after a most 
 diiRcult march, through a country already in the 
 possession of a victorious enemy, he got into com- 
 munication with the Austrian general, Clerfayt, who, 
 astonished at his success, greeted him with the 
 following not undeserved compliment : ' Yous^ milord, 
 avez su faire rimpossible' He reached Alost, on the 
 6th July, but there he was immediately attacked by 
 the French. His troops were much exhausted by 
 their rapid and hazardous march, and the enemy 
 forced an entrance into the town, but he succeeded 
 in driving them out, and on the 8th he joined the 
 Duke of York. They then held the Brussels -Antwerp 
 canal, when, on the 1 2th, their position was assaulted, 
 and they were driven to Malines ; Moira, upon this, 
 made a gallant counter-attack, and forced the enemy 
 to retii'e, but three days later he was again obliged to 
 withdraw into Malines, which, being untenable, was 
 evacuated, and the troops were brought to Antwerp, 
 which was still held to cover the movements of the 
 Dutch. 
 
 This very interesting military episode, in which
 
 MILITARY SERVICES 29 
 
 Moira displayed his old prudence and spirit, led 
 to a very unfortunate occurrence. One method taken 
 to pass unchallenged along the front of the French 
 army was to deceive the latter by making them think 
 that a much stronger force was advancing to the 
 support of the Duke of York than was actually the 
 case. Moira gave orders to collect rations for 35,000 
 men during his march, and Pichegru^ who commanded 
 the enemy at Bruges, believing that this was the real 
 strength of the forces opposed to him, did not interfere 
 with their movements, when he might have prevented 
 their advance. The ruse succeeded ; but the British 
 Government afterwards declined to pay the bill, and 
 referred the contractor to the private purse of the 
 British general, whence to recover the debt due for 
 rations which had been drawn for 15,000 men who 
 did not exist. Moira refused to pay, and nothing 
 was done further in the matter till after his death, 
 when his widow, having rendered herself liable for 
 her husband's debts, by an undertaking which she 
 executed in ignorance, was sued for the amount. Par- 
 liament was petitioned to discharge the money due, 
 but in vain ; and the result was that some thousands 
 of pounds were exacted from Lady Hastings, to 
 liquidate a charge which had been incurred for the 
 benefit of the public service, and which had enabled 
 the Duke of York to receive a substantial reinforce- 
 ment when the British army under his command was 
 in imminent danger. 
 
 The march from Ostend was the last active service
 
 30 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 in which Moira was engaged until he went to India ; 
 for he appears shortly after the events just recorded 
 to have left the seat of war. His subsequent military- 
 career at home is unimportant, and may be thus 
 summed up : he was promoted Lieutenant-General 
 in 1798, and General in 1803; he was appointed 
 Commander of the Forces in Scotland about the same 
 time, Colonel of the 27th Foot in 1804, and Constable 
 of the Tower in 1806. 
 
 In 1797 Moira announced, in a letter to Colonel 
 McMahon, that a large number of Members of Parlia- 
 ment who supported the Government had proposed 
 that he should become Prime Minister to the exclusion 
 of both Pitt and Fox, and he intimated that he was 
 quite ready to form an administration if the King 
 wished it, but that he declined to co-operate with the 
 greater part of Pitt's colleagues, especially the Duke 
 of Portland, and would only admit a few of Fox's 
 friends ; his Chancellor of the Exchequer was to be 
 Sir J. Pulteney. This news, according to his critics, 
 'threw the whole town into paroxysms of laughter,' 
 and drew the following remarks from his old friend 
 and late commander, Cornwallis: 'It is surely im- 
 possible that Lord Moira's letter can be genuine ; if 
 it is, excess of vanity and self-importance must have 
 extinguished every spark of understanding, and I am 
 sure there was a time when he had sense ■^.' 
 
 * Cornwallis Correspondence, ii. 329. Readers of the Poetry of 
 the Anti-Jacobin will remember the ' Ode to Lord M^ra' written 
 upon this occasion, of which the following is the last stanza : —
 
 POLITICAL LIFE 3I 
 
 But although Moira did not excel as a parliamentary 
 chief, and had possibly no capacity for the business, 
 yet he took considerable interest in certain matters 
 of supreme national importance, and formed strong 
 opinions upon them which he urged with characteristic 
 vigour and self-reliance. The state of Ireland at the 
 end of the last century was a source of endless 
 embarrassment to English statesmanship, and the; 
 difficulties of the situation, far from diminishing, 
 became intensified day by day. Government, under 
 the able administration of Pitt, had a distinct policy^ 
 but Moira was in independent opposition and felt. 
 that this was the moment for him to intervene. He 
 had been trained in the depressing school of the 
 American revolution, and, while as a soldier he did 
 his duty, he could not but observe and meditate over 
 the fatal consequences which followed the ungenerous 
 and weak conduct of those ministers who contributed 
 so much to bring about the disaster. 
 
 The state of Ireland seemed to him to be analogous 
 to that of the late colonies which he knew so well, 
 and having a seat in the Irish House of Lords as well 
 as at Westminster, he frequently called attention to 
 the affairs of that country. He urged that grievances 
 
 Old P-lt-n-y too your influence feels, 
 And asks from you th' Exchequer seals, 
 
 To tax and save the nation : 
 T-ke trembles, lest your potent charms 
 Should lure C — s F — x from his fond arms. 
 
 To YOUR Administration. 
 Foetry of the Anti-Jacobin, p. 55 ; Ed. Lond. 1799.
 
 32 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 should be redressed, and resented the recall of Lord 
 Fitzwilliam in 1794; he spoke of the poverty and 
 the hardships endured by the Irish, and of the 
 cruelties practised upon them by the military ; he 
 even went so far as to declare his opinion that unless 
 grievances were put an end to, and the number 
 of malcontents thereby reduced, Ireland would not 
 remain connected with England for five years longer. 
 He was a consistent advocate of Catholic emancipation, 
 and frequently urged that important reform. He 
 opposed the Union on the ground that it was not 
 acceptable to the people, and voted against it in the 
 Irish House, but, on its passing, he gave it his 
 adhesion in the House of Lords at Westminster. 
 
 Conciliation is a wise policy, and the redress of 
 grievances and of injustice the only true and proper 
 solution in the case of general discontent ; and Moira 
 did well in denouncing the bigotry which prevailed 
 against the Catholics, and in trying to improve the 
 condition of the people ; but he went too far, and was 
 censured for it, when he was understood to justify, 
 and therefore to encourage, the Irish Jacobin move- 
 ment that broke out into a savage rebellion in May 
 1798^. 
 
 * Moira's views received a rude, if not an amusing, illus- 
 tration, when only a short time after making one of his most 
 violent speeches against the Government, the rebels selected 
 his demesne near Ballynahinch as their battlefield against the 
 King's authority. The wits of the day thereupon composed 
 ' A New Song ' called * Ballynahinch,' in which the following lines 
 occur : —
 
 POLITICAL LIFE 33 
 
 The objects of Pitt were identical with his own, for 
 both endeavoured to remove injustice and the causes 
 of legitimate complaint ; but Pitt had also to assure 
 himself that he did not disturb the fundamental prin- 
 ciples of law and order, without which no society 
 can stand and all concessions must be useless. That 
 Moira would have adopted a similar course, despite his 
 speeches, is shown by the fact that although he 
 denounced British rule in India as * founded in injus- 
 tice and originally established by force,' and opposed 
 Lord WeUesley's policy there, he in no way guided 
 his conduct by this opinion when the reins of govern- 
 ment were placed in his own hands, and, on the con- 
 trary, shaped his action on the model afforded to him 
 by the great Governor-General whom he had criticised. 
 
 When Fox and Grenville came into office, in 1806, 
 Moira was admitted to the Privy Council, and was 
 appointed Master of the Ordnance ; but the following 
 year he resigned office, when the Duke of Portland 
 came into power — the same statesman whom he spe- 
 cially excluded from his projected ministry of 17 97, but 
 with whom on the Regency question in 1788 he had, 
 in his own words, * slidden into a kind of alliance.' 
 
 'Determin'd their landlord's fine words to make good. 
 They hid Pikes in his haggard, cut staves in his wood; 
 And attack'd the King's troops — the assertion to clinch, 
 That no town is so Loyal as Ballynahinch. 
 O ! had we but trusted the Eebels' professions, 
 Met their cannon with smiles, and their pikes with concessions ; 
 Tho' they still took an ell, when we gave them an mcft, 
 They would all have been Loyal — like Ballynahinch.' 
 
 Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin, p. 214. 
 C
 
 34 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Towards the end of 1810 the king had another 
 attack of his old malady, and an arrangement had to 
 be made for the discharge of the Royal functions. It 
 so happened that the party in power then was of the 
 same complexion as that which had been in office 
 twenty-two years before, when the question was first 
 debated, and thus the same arguments were repro- 
 duced with the significant exception that the point 
 maintained by Fox (that the Prince of Wales as Heir- 
 Apparent succeeded by right to the Regency) was 
 in this instance abandoned. As a result, however, the 
 proposals of Pitt in 1 788 were substantially carried, and 
 the arrangement adopted remained effective. Moira, 
 true to his afiection for the Prince, took a prominent 
 part in these proceedings, and supported him to the 
 utmost of his power. Nor did his desire to be of 
 service to the Regent end here, for he also took an 
 active part on his behalf in the investigation of the 
 conduct of the Princess ; on account of which he was 
 obliged to defend himself early in 1813 against the 
 allegation that he had secretly attempted to obtain 
 evidence against that unfortunate lady ; these charges 
 he strongly repudiated, and whatever might have 
 been his anxiety to serve a Prince whose friend- 
 ship and confidence he had enjoyed for many years, 
 it is certain he was not the man to stoop to a low 
 office such as had been suggested by his enemies. 
 
 His last performance in the political arena at home 
 was perhaps the most important. An account of 
 the interesting negotiations which took place with
 
 POLITICAL LIFE 35 
 
 regard to a reconstruction of the cabinet in 181 2 is 
 impossible in a work of the present kind, but a brief 
 outline of what occurred may be summed up as follows. 
 Early that year Mr. Perceval's government was weak- 
 ened by the resignation of Lord Wellesley, who 
 thought the time had come for a settlement of Catholic 
 claims, then hotly resisted by the ministers in power. 
 An effort was now made to enlarge the administration, 
 with a view to the consideration of these claims, and 
 the Regent resenting the illiberality of the ministry 
 and desiring to strengthen his hands by the assistance 
 of ' some of those persons with whom the early habits 
 of his public life were formed,' endeavoured to make 
 it succeed ; but it failed, and things went on as usual 
 until May, when the Prime Minister was assassinated 
 in the House of Commons. The leadership then de- 
 volved upon Lord Liverpool, who tried to obtain the 
 support of Lord Wellesley and Mr. Canning to prop 
 up his government, then considered in a tottering 
 condition : this also failed. It soon became evident 
 that the ministry could not command a majority in 
 the House, and thereupon the Regent addressed him- 
 self to Lord Wellesley, who undertook to attempt to 
 reconcile the chief members of both parties, on the 
 basis of a conciliatory adjustment of Catholic claims 
 and a vigorous prosecution of the Peninsular war. 
 In a short time, however, he had to give up the task, 
 and Lord Moira — who had helped him in his mission 
 and who was to have had a seat in the proposed 
 cabinet — was then sent for and empowered to conduct 
 
 c 1
 
 36 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 these delicate negotiations. Just at first it seemed aa 
 if he would succeed, for Lords Grey and Grenville, the 
 principal persons concerned, agreed to his propositions ; 
 but a divergence of opinion soon became manifest on 
 the question of the Household appointments, and as 
 neither side would give way, the arrangements fell 
 through. On the 8th of June Lord Liverpool announced 
 that he had been appointed Prime Minister, and the 
 crisis ended. 
 
 There were many who blamed Lords Moira, Grey, 
 and Grenville for this collapse of Whig aspirations ; 
 the two latter, for allowing the regulation of the 
 Household to stand in the way of all their political 
 wishes ; while of the former it was said, that to him 
 alone was owing the continuance of a ministry whose 
 removal he once said (not six months before) ' ought 
 to be rapturously hailed by the whole country,' as by 
 that event only could the Catholics get a prospect of 
 obtaining a redress of their grievances ^. 
 
 But though the results of the negotiations just 
 recorded caused disappointment to many who hoped 
 to derive benefit therefrom, the confidence which 
 the Prince Regent reposed in Lord Moira was not 
 weakened, nor the friendship he entertained for him 
 disturbed. He had conducted his difficult mission with 
 zeal and ability coupled with singleness of purpose 
 and firmness of will. Failure was not imputed to him, 
 nor was he held accountable for the result of his 
 
 * Annual Register, 1812 : (^General History), pp. 45, 79, 129, &c. ; 
 (State Papers), pp. 329, 346, &c.
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 37 
 
 undertaking ; on the contrary, the transaction raised 
 his credit, for the Prince approved of his services and 
 the ministers appreciated his character. 
 
 Shortly after these events he was installed Knight 
 of the Garter, and on the resignation of Lord Minto 
 was appointed Governor-General and Commander-in- 
 Chief in India. He was eminently qualified for this 
 high position ; his energy and military ability, his 
 strength of character and liberality of mind, his high 
 personal integrity and scrupulous sense of honour, 
 all rendered him peculiarly fitted to wield the great 
 powers which were to be intrusted to his charge and 
 to grapple with the questions that awaited his 
 solution. 
 
 He sailed from Portsmouth on the T4th of April, 
 1 8 13, and landed at Calcutta on the 4th of October, 
 when he at once assumed his new functions. He 
 remained in India till the ist of January, 1823, and 
 thus his rule there lasted a little more than nine years. 
 
 It will be convenient to conclude this chapter by a 
 short account of the remainder of the personal history 
 of the man who forms the central figure of the trans- 
 actions described in the following pages ; thencefor- 
 ward his individuality becomes merged in the events 
 which he controlled, and hence it will be useful to 
 dismiss the person in favour of the work he achieved. 
 
 Lord Moira married, in 1804, Flora, Countess 
 of Loudoun in her own right (only child of James, 
 fifth Earl of Loudoun in the peerage of Scotland), by 
 whom he had six children. His mother died in 1808,
 
 38 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 and upon that event he succeeded to the ancient 
 baronies of Hastings, Hungerford, &c., which were 
 vested in the Hastings family^. In February, 1817, 
 he was created, on account of his public services in 
 India, Marquess of Hastings, Earl of Rawdon, and 
 Viscount Loudoun, in the peerage of the United 
 Kingdom, and in 181 8 he was made a G. C. H. and 
 G. C. B. Several votes of thanks were passed in his 
 favour in both Houses of Parliament, and the same 
 was passed in the general Court of the East India 
 Company in February 18 19, when a grant of j6''6o,ooo 
 was voted for the purchase of an estate for his wife 
 and issue. After his death a further sum of ,^''20,000 
 was also voted for the benefit of his son, who was then 
 under age. When offered a Marquessate, he endea- 
 voured to get the title of ' Marquess of Clarence,' and 
 he based his request upon his descent from George 
 Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV. But this 
 application was not entertained, and the title con- 
 ferred upon him was derived from the town in Sussex 
 where his ancestor had been Portgrave in the reign of 
 William the Conqueror. It appears moreover he had 
 been led to believe that he would have been created 
 a Duke at the coronation of George IV, but this 
 expectation was not realised. 
 
 Lord Moira is described as a tall athletic man, dark 
 
 ^ The Earldom of Huntingdon descended in the male line only, 
 and became suspended for some years after the death of Lady 
 Moira's brother, until claimed by the male heir of the second 
 Earl. See Buike's Viciss.iU,dts of Families, ii. 22.
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 39 
 
 in complexion, with a stately figure and an impressive 
 and dignified bearing. He had the reputation of 
 being in his day ' the ugliest man in England ' ; but 
 his manner was happy and genial, his politeness true 
 and genuine, and his address engaging, so that a 
 general charm pervaded his features, and relieved 
 them of the disqualification which nature had in- 
 flicted. In spite of his ' ugliness ' he was a favourite 
 subject of all the best artists of the day, and many 
 portraits of him exist, painted by Reynolds, Gains- 
 borough, Lawrence, &c. 
 
 In his personal relations with others he was 
 generous and affable ; in his domestic circle he was 
 affectionate and warm-hearted. General Doyle, who 
 served under him and who knew him well, makes the 
 following comments upon his character ^ '.-^ 
 
 ' No man possessed in a higher degree the happy but rare 
 faculty of attaching to him all who came within the sphere 
 of his command. When they saw their general take upon 
 himself the blame of any failure in the execution of his plans 
 (provided it did not arise from want of zeal or courage), and 
 where it succeeded giving the whole credit to those he em- 
 ployed, every man found himself safe ; an unlimited con- 
 fidence infused itself into all ranks, and his army became 
 irresistible. Never was there a man of whom it could be 
 more truly said, " Self was the only being seemed forgot !"' 
 
 The excess of his generosity, not unmixed with a 
 
 fondness of display, led to unbounded extravagance, 
 
 which, wasting a large private fortune, crippled his 
 
 resources in his declining years. Nor is it impro- 
 
 * Asiatic Journal, (January 1827), xxiii. 6.
 
 40 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 bable that his extraordinary attachment to the Prince 
 of Wales did not a little contribute to the ruin of his 
 affairs. ' Moira and I,' the Prince would sometimes 
 say, ' are like two brothers, when one wants money he 
 puts his hand in the other's pocket ; ' and to help his 
 illustrious friend, he sold his estates in Ireland and 
 much valuable property in England. Magnificent in 
 his ideas, profuse in carrying them out, holding 
 strongly to the old-fashioned notions of the obligation 
 to serve those who from a high station had fallen into 
 distress, he placed Donington Park at the disposal ol 
 the Bourbon princes when they emigrated to England 
 during the French Revolution; and there they re- 
 mained for several years. He received them with all 
 the chivalrous consideration that their rank and mis- 
 fortunes would naturally excite in the mind of a man 
 of his character, and to supply their wants he opened 
 his purse freely and gave them unlimited credit on his 
 bankers ; he accomplished this with much delicacy, 
 for he left in each bedroom a signed cheque book, 
 which the occupant could fill up at pleasure, with- 
 out having to undergo the humihation of asking for 
 pecuniary assistance. It is only right to add that 
 his guests availed themselves but sparingly of this 
 generosity. His establishment in India was conducted 
 with lavish expenditure, and when he returned home 
 he prided himself on the fact that, after nine years' 
 toil in the Eldorado of the East, he came back a poorer 
 man than when he went out. 
 
 In short, he found himself in serious financial
 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA 41 
 
 embarrassments about this time, and in spite of 
 a ruined constitution, and of increasing age and 
 infirmities, he felt himself unable to enjoy that 
 repose to which his career in India ought to have 
 justly entitled him. He had to seek employment, 
 and being offered the post of Governor and Com- 
 mander-in-Chief in Malta, he accepted it in March 
 1824. There he devoted himself with his habitual 
 energy to the affairs of the island, but soon his health , 
 gave way, and having fallen from his horse early in 
 November, 1826, he sustained a serious injury to 
 which he speedily succumbed. He was put on board 
 H. M. S. Kevenge, and was taken for a cruise in the 
 Mediterranean ; but he never rallied. After lingering 
 a short time, showing great fortitude and resignation, 
 he breathed his last, surrounded by his wife and four 
 daughters, on the 38th of November, 1826, on board 
 ship, in Baia Bay near Naples, in his seventy-second 
 year. His body was brought to Malta and buried on 
 the ramparts. He had desired that his right hand 
 should be cut off and buried with his wife when she 
 died ; this wish was complied with, and now it rests 
 clasped with hers in the family vault of the Loudouns 
 at the old kirk of Loudoun, in Ayrshire. 
 
 When his grandson, the late Lord Hastings, well 
 known in the racing world, died, the Marquessate and 
 many of the other honours became extinct; but the 
 Scotch Earldom of Loudoun and the old Enghsh 
 Baronies descended to his grand-daughter, whose son, 
 the present Lord Loudoun, represents the family.
 
 43 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 We may conclude this chapter by the following 
 passage from the pen of a contemporary writer : — 
 
 ' To convey an adequate impression of the various quahties 
 which adorned the Marquess of Hastings' private life and 
 endeared him almost enthusiastically to every one who ap- 
 proached him nearly, would be a difficult task. His manners 
 were peculiarly striking. The dignity of appearance, and 
 the polished urbanity of his address, marked him at once as 
 a gentleman of the highest order; but his good-breeding 
 seemed the natui'al impulse of a kind disposition ; and was 
 as apparent in his intercourse with the humblest members 
 of society as with persons of his own station. To those with 
 whom he lived in habits of intimacy and friendship, he was 
 not contented with rendering real service whenever the oppor- 
 tunity occurred; he never omitted those little attentions, 
 the interchange of which constitutes so pleasing a part of 
 private life. His mind was richly cultivated ; his information 
 was extensive, and at the same time minute ; he was an 
 excellent scholar, and was remarkable for the purity and 
 elegance of his familiar language. His conversation was 
 always interesting. ... In addition to these qualities, he was 
 blessed with the happiest temper, and possessed the warmest 
 and most generous heart ; and it may be truly said of him, 
 that his ample fortune absolutely sank under the benevolence 
 of his nature. He died with the most perfect resignation to 
 the Divine Will, in charity with all mankind, and in those 
 sentiments of elevated piety which had been habitual to his 
 life V 
 
 * Annv.aXBioqrapUy and Obituary, xii. 157.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Condition of India, in 1813 
 
 As the genius of Clive and the administrative 
 reforms of his immediate successors consolidated the 
 British possessions in Bengal, so did the rare intel- 
 lectual power of Lord Wellesley create a system of 
 imperial rule which, intimately connected with the 
 events about to be recorded, became the basis of 
 British supremacy in India. The causes which 
 rendered the adoption of this system necessary 
 cannot be described in this volume, for they belong 
 to the period in which they arose ; suffice it to say 
 that the Marquess of Hastings (as we shall now call 
 Lord Moira), though he resisted the views entertained 
 by Wellesley when in England, recognised his mis- 
 take when he reached India, and became converted 
 to the principles which he had previously denounced. 
 His administration, in short, is the sequel to that of 
 his illustrious predecessor ; and hence in order to 
 understand the questions which presented themselves 
 to him when he landed at Calcutta in October, 18 13, 
 it is requisite to take a brief retrospective glance at 
 Indian affairs, commencing some years before that 
 date. It should however be stated at once, that the
 
 44 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 administrations of these two rulers, resembling each 
 other in many ways, differed in one material respect, 
 for while, in the earlier period, the ambition and 
 power of the French was a disquieting element of 
 no small magnitude, in that of Lord Hastings the 
 danger had already passed away owing to the decline 
 of Napoleon's ascendency, and the conquest in 1810 
 of Mauritius, which before that time had served as 
 a base of naval operations against India. 
 
 Lord Wellesley found the sovereignty, which had 
 fallen from the effete hands of the Mughal Emperors, 
 contested by the Hindu or Maratha confederacy of 
 princes, and the various states governed by Mu- 
 hammadan rulers. The latter were represented by 
 the Nizam and by the Sultan of Mysore ; the fonner 
 consisted of five chiefs, at the head of which was the 
 Peshwa of Poona, and under him, in a disorderly 
 fashion, the Gaekwar of Baroda, Sindhia of Gwalior, 
 and Holkar of Lidore, both of whom ruled in Central 
 India, and the Bhonsla Raja of Nagpur, whose sway 
 extended over Berar and Orissa. 
 
 Under the system inaugurated by the Governor- 
 General, relations with the native states were regulated 
 in the following manner. In the first place, there were 
 those states with whom the British Government had 
 concluded a subsidiary alliance. By this arrangement 
 the princes concerned received a British force, called 
 the ^ subsidiary force,' for the protection of the country, 
 and they maintained a contingent of their own, some- 
 times commanded by European officers, to act with it ;
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA IN iSl^ 4$ 
 
 they moreover agreed to pay for the maintenance of 
 the subsidiary force, and nearly always ceded territory 
 for the permanent discharge of this liability; and 
 they also engaged to discontinue all political relations 
 with other states, except in concert with the Govern- 
 ment of Calcutta, and to submit all claims and disputes 
 to its arbitration. The protected states were subject 
 to a similar dependence, but their importance was not 
 sufficiently great to oblige Government to maintain 
 troops among them as was done elsewhere. And 
 lastly came the princes whose independence was 
 recognised, and with whom ordinary treaties — some 
 of them more or less protective — were concluded. 
 
 Wellesley succeeded at first in putting an end so 
 effectually to the aspirations of the Muhammadans, 
 that during Lord Hastings' government little or no 
 difficulty was experienced in that quarter. By these 
 measures, the Nizam accepted a subsidiary alliance ; 
 the Karnatik was annexed ; Mysore was reduced, the 
 dynasty changed, and the state rendered dependent 
 upon the British Government. Wellesley then turned 
 his attention to the Marathas, but they were engrossed 
 in schemes of ambition, and were busy levying chauth^ 
 or ' quarter revenues,' beyond the limits of their own 
 territories. Thus, enjoying a wild and unbridled 
 license to plunder their own dominions and to harry 
 their neighbours, they refused to agree to any terms. 
 As a natural consequence of their own lawlessness 
 they were quarrelling among themselves, and in the 
 course of the struggle the Peshwa was defeated by
 
 46 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Holkar and fled for protection to British territory. 
 Urged by his necessities, he signed a subsidiary 
 treaty at Bassein, 1802; and thereupon threw con- 
 sternation among the other confederates, who chafed 
 to see their suzerain reduced by this act to a degrading 
 position of dependence upon Calcutta. Hostilities 
 followed in 1802-3, known as the second Maratha 
 war, and Sindhia and the Bhonsla E-aja were crushed. 
 The power of these princes having been thus curtailed, 
 and the Gaekwar having already accepted a subsidiary 
 alliance, the only hostile Maratha force left unsubdued 
 was that of Holkar. 
 
 But the tide of victory had temporarily turned ; 
 the military operations which followed were not 
 successful, disasters occurred, and Sindhia rose in 
 revolt. Public opinion in England, moreover, dis- 
 satisfied with the vigour of Wellesley's Indian policy 
 and failing to understand its importance, took alarm 
 at these events and imagined that the solidity of 
 British power was being overturned by a few free- 
 booters. The result was that a great Anglo-Indian 
 ruler was recalled before his work was concluded, 
 and a successor appointed with instructions to reverse 
 his system and to come to terms with the enemy at 
 any price. Meanwhile the course of mihtary events 
 had again changed, and British arms were once more 
 victorious ; Holkar was flying before Lord Lake, and, 
 as a matter of coui'se, Sindhia promptly returned to 
 his allegiance. 
 
 Peace was concluded at the end of 1805, but a
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA /A^ 1813 47 
 
 spirit of weak conciliation pervaded the negotiations 
 and dictated the terms that were agreed upon ; ill- 
 timed concessions were granted, and these not only- 
 caused future embarrassments to the Government 
 of Calcutta, but also pressed hardly upon the weaker 
 states who had relied upon British support in 
 moments of adversity. An example of this may be 
 given, and is to be found in the dissolution of the 
 protective alliance, 1806, with the Rajput principality 
 of Jaipur, which was thus handed over to Maratha 
 and Pathan rapacity, under circumstances reflecting 
 so little credit to English administration, that orders 
 were issued in 181 3 to reverse this act. 
 
 Lord Minto, who became Governor-General in 1807, 
 found much to occupy him elsewhere, and had no leisure 
 to devote to the affairs of Central India. The time 
 and energies of his government were taken up in 
 allaying discontent which had broken out in the 
 Madras army, in carrying out foreign expeditions 
 directed mainly against the French, and in estab- 
 lishing relations with distant Asiatic sovereigns with 
 whom up to that time there had been little or no 
 communication. The important internal questions 
 had thus to be adjourned or temporarily adjusted. 
 India was still much disturbed, but the Governor- 
 General kept the Marathas within certain bounds, with- 
 out the necessity of war, and steered clear between 
 a violation of the doctrine of non-intervention and a 
 sacrifice of former prestige and of national interests^. 
 
 * SirW. "E-VLDier's Indian Empire, Sfc, Ed. 1882, p. 301.
 
 48 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 The neutral policy adopted in England was founded 
 upon a misconception, and it was held that India could 
 be divided off into two sections — British and native — 
 in the concerns of each of which the other was 
 not to interfere. But it was forgotten that the two 
 portions were indissolubly connected by ancient tradi- 
 tion and by geographical position, and Lord Minto 
 was forced to show, in April, 1810, that the plan 
 of preserving, or rather restoring, the balance of 
 power — which it was supposed had been disturbed 
 by territorial expansion — was an impossible pro- 
 position. 
 
 He declared that in India 'War, rapine, and 
 conquest constitute an avowed principle of action, 
 a just and legitimate pursuit, and the chief source of 
 public glory, sanctioned and even recommended by 
 the ordinances of religion, and prosecuted without 
 the semblance or pretext of justice, with a savage 
 disregard of every obligation of humanity and public 
 faith, and restrained alone by the power of resistance.' 
 After giving examples, he proceeded: 'It is un- 
 necessary to refer to the testimony of specific facts, 
 with a view to demonstrate the self-evident pro- 
 position, that the permanent existence of a balance 
 of power is incompatible with reciprocal views of 
 conquest and ambition ; ' and he wound up with 
 'this undeniable conclusion, that no extent of con- 
 cession, or territorial restitution on our part, would 
 have the effect of establishing any real and effectual 
 balance of power in India, or forbearance on the part
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA IN 1 813 49 
 
 of other states, when the means of aggrandisement 
 was placed in their hands ^.' 
 
 How far he would have succeeded in eradicating 
 notions then prevalent, it is not easy to say, but the 
 fact was becoming clearer every day that the settle- 
 ment made in 1805 was far from satisfactory, more 
 especially those treaties concluded with Sindhia and 
 Holkar. These princes were military chiefs of irregular 
 troops in the possession of a country, rather than terri- 
 torial sovereigns ; their dominion over their subjects 
 was uncertain and precarious and was maintained 
 by force, while their principal occupation was to levy, 
 at the point of the sword, contributions and exactions 
 from reluctant tributaries. The natural consequences 
 followed, and there were perpetual scenes of war, 
 anarchy, and bloodshed in those miserable states, 
 disastrous to all prosperity, and dangerous to the 
 neighbouring British provinces. In Holkar' s terri- 
 tories disorder prevailed even to a greater extent 
 than elsewhere, owing to the insanity of that prince 
 in 1808 and to his death three years later; the young 
 Holkar was a child, and his custody, and the power 
 it conferred, was contested by his father's widow and 
 by a soldier of fortune, Amir Khan, of whom more 
 will be heard presently ^. 
 
 By Wellesley's plan of subsidiary alliances all 
 
 ' General Sir John Malcolm's Political History of India from 1784 
 (0 1823, 2 vols., London, 1S26, vol. i. p. 430, &c. (hereafter quoted for 
 brevity as Malcolm's Hist, of India). 
 
 ^ General Sir .Tohn Malcolm's Memoir of Central India, 3rd ed., 
 2 vols,, London, 1832 ; vol. i. p. 260, &c. 
 
 D
 
 50 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 these states would have been placed under civilised 
 tutelage, the confusion which followed would have been 
 minimised and gradually put an end to, and hence a 
 more stable and worthy system of native rule would 
 have been introduced. But the neutral policy of 
 non-intervention had been accurately carried out, and 
 Holkar, Sindhia, and the Bhonsla Raja had been left 
 independent in diminished territories, with the result 
 that, deeply resenting their losses, they had free liberty, 
 just outside British protection, to devastate what re- 
 mained to them or what they could acquire from 
 their neighbours, and to intensify the disorders which 
 endangered the general tranquillity. In 1813 Holkar 
 was unable to exercise much influence outside his own 
 dominions, for reasons already given ; but Sindhia 
 and the Bhonsla Raja were engaged in attacking 
 Bhopdl, an important little Muhammadan state con- 
 necting British territory in Bundelkhand and Berar, 
 and governed by a Nawab of superior political 
 intelligence. 
 
 Lord Minto had been endeavouring since 181 2 to 
 induce the Bhonsla to accept a subsidiary alliance ; 
 but that prince, although saved from disaster at the 
 hands of Amir Khan by a British force in 1809, 
 brooded over the losses which he suffered in the 
 last Maratha war, and, forming schemes for his 
 own aggrandisement, refused to alter the attitude 
 of reserve and distrust which he persisted in main- 
 taining towards the Government of Calcutta. Nor 
 was the Peshwd inactive. He had claims on the
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA /A^ 1813 51 
 
 Gdekw^r which were still unsettled, and which under 
 the treaty of Bassein were controlled by the British 
 authority ; he resented this treaty and its conse- 
 quences, and regretted his loss of influence ; he was 
 outwardly peaceable, but under this mask he was 
 busily engaged in recovering his former ascendency 
 over his confederates, in consolidating his power, and 
 in secretly forming a powerful combination of native 
 states to dispute British supremacy in the East. In 
 short, among all the Maratha chiefs there was, in 
 1 813, a growing feeling that the time was approaching 
 when they could avenge the past with impunity, 
 drive the English out of India, and regain once more 
 their ancient independence. 
 
 But there were two other powers, or rather associa- 
 tions, which played an important part in the events 
 now under review. The Pindaris and the Pathans 
 became a source of great danger, and their power 
 to produce disorder, increasing in a very alarming 
 manner between 1805 and 1813, is traceable to the 
 settlement effected in the former year. The Pindaris^ 
 originally were Hindu outlaws who, frustrating the 
 efforts of Aurangzeb to suppress them, added their 
 strength to that of Sivaji, the first Maratha chief, who 
 towards the end of the seventeenth century wrested 
 power from the Mughals. As the Empire crumbled 
 to pieces, so did they arise in fresh force, and, 
 
 • The word seems to occur first in 1689. Its derivation is un- 
 certain ; some think that it is connected with Pandour, but the 
 Pindaris themselves trace it from Pinda, an intoxicating drink. 
 Prinsep's Transactions in India, i. 37 ; Malcolm's Central India, i. 433. 
 
 D 2
 
 52 LOUD BASTINGS 
 
 degenerating into an organised banditti, became the 
 terror and the scourge of the country which was 
 submitted to their depredations. Owning no master, 
 they attached themselves as irregular cavalry to the 
 Peshwa's armies ; but later they ranged themselves 
 in two parties under Sindhia and Holkar, whom they 
 adopted as patrons, though they continued to preserve 
 their common traditions. They were accustomed to 
 assemble every year about the beginning of November, 
 and, having placed themselves under the bravest 
 leaders, they sallied forth in mounted bands, often 
 several thousand strong, to burn, destroy^ and search 
 for plunder. Nor were their raids conducted only in 
 the neighbourhood of their camps, for such was the 
 hardiness of their horses, the lightness of their baggage, 
 and the rapidity of their movements, that they spread 
 their devastations from Mysore northwards sometimes 
 as far as the Jumna, and baffled the attempts of more 
 regular forces to overtake them or keep them in 
 check. 
 
 The centre of this formidable association was in 
 the valley of the Narbada, where the chiefs obtained 
 lands, acquired small principalities, and were frequently 
 honoured with the title of Nawab. In 1814 they were 
 reckoned at between 25,000 and 30.000 horsemen, of 
 whom about half were well armed ; their principal 
 leaders were Chitu, Wasil Muhammad, and Karlm 
 Khan — men who took a prominent part in the com- 
 plicated and anarchical politics of Central India, now 
 joining one faction and now another, but always
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA 7A^ 1813 53 
 
 pursuing their own selfish ends without thought of 
 future consequences, and ever visiting with fire and 
 sword the unfortunate people they plundered. 
 
 The Maratha chiefs secretly favoured these predatory 
 hordes, employing them often for their own purposes, 
 and always disavowing responsibility when occasion 
 required it ; they never discouraged their increase, 
 and, far from attempting to suppress the disorder, 
 they made no eflfort even to mitigate it. When a 
 Pindarl chief got too strong for them, they fomented 
 the jealousies of a rival and sought to secure partial 
 immunity for themselves by setting leader against 
 leader; but the evil itself prospered and gained 
 ground rapidly, and the settlement of 1805, far from 
 putting an end to the troubles, such as they were in 
 that year (as its advocates had hoped), only served to 
 foster a most pernicious growth of marauders, by the 
 independence which had been weakly conceded to 
 the Maratha princes at the end of a successful war. 
 
 It is obvious that the British Government was fre- 
 quently harassed by these lawless bands, who, occupy- 
 ing a position nearly equidistant from the three 
 Presidencies, moved readily in any direction from 
 the centre of an extended circle, the circumference of 
 which had constantly to be guarded. On two occa- 
 sions considerable mischief had been done by them 
 to British subjects or allies. In 1808-9 they en- 
 tered Gujarat, and in 1812 they devastated Mirza- 
 pur and penetrated into territories which for years 
 before had been free from their ravages. This last
 
 54 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 inroad into a British province was facilitated by the 
 assistance of the Raja of Rewa, a protected prince, 
 and measures were in consequence taken against 
 him, which were not concluded when Lord Hastings 
 reached India. 
 
 The Pathans differed in some respects from the 
 Pindaris ; unlike the latter they were composed of 
 paid troops who did not subsist on disorderly plunder, 
 nor were they composed of cavalry only, but reckoned 
 among their forces the most efficient native infantry 
 then known in India which was not commanded by 
 Europeans, as well as very useful artillery ; they were 
 therefore more regular in their habits and more dis- 
 ciplined in their demeanour than the Pindaris, band- 
 ing themselves together in order to prey upon 
 governments and princes, whereas the others ravaged 
 defenceless villages and tortured the unfortunate 
 inhabitants. But they resembled each other in being 
 bodies of organised freebooters, without territorial 
 relations and without responsible chiefs, who lived 
 on rapine and disorder, and who caused serious 
 trouble to the Government of Calcutta. Indeed the 
 Pathans, and to a certain extent the Pindaris, were 
 not unlike the Free Companies which in the Middle 
 Ages overran parts of Europe, now enlisting as mer- 
 cenaries under some prince, again fighting for their 
 own hand and advantage, often plundering, and in 
 every case oppressing both rulers and people. The 
 Pathans devoted their energies more especially to 
 Rajputana, and devastated that peculiarly disturbed
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA /A^ 1813 55 
 
 collection of feudal states, where internal discord, 
 hereditary quarrels, and continual strife made their 
 career easy and prosperous. Amir Khan was the 
 most successful Pathan leader, and had under him an 
 army of some 30,000 men ; he might indeed, like 
 another Sforza, have carved out for himself an im- 
 portant principality in those troublous times, had his 
 abilities been sufficient for the purpose, and had his 
 ambition lain in that direction ; but he preferred the 
 wild and exciting life of a captain of Condottieri, 
 and as such made an excellent living out of the feuds 
 he fomented and the disorder he created. 
 
 The great central tract of the Indian continent 
 presented truly a pitiable spectacle, and never before 
 had there been such intense and general suffering. 
 The native states were disorganised and society on 
 the very verge of dissolution ; the people were crushed 
 by despots and ruined by exactions ; the country was 
 overrun by bandits and its resources wasted by 
 enemies ; armed forces existed only to plunder, to 
 torture, and to mutiny; briefly, government there 
 was none, it had ceased to exist, there remained only 
 misery and oppression 1. 
 
 Besides this serious condition of affairs, Lord 
 Hastings found on reaching Calcutta in 1813 that 
 there was another question of moment which required 
 
 ' H. T. Prinsep's History qf the Political and Military Transactions 
 in India during the Administration of the Marquess of Hastings, 1813-1823, 
 2 vols., London, 1825, i. chap, i ; H. H. Wilson's Edition of MiU's 
 History of British India, London, 1846, viii. 181 ; Malcolm's Central 
 India, i. 325, 426.
 
 ^6 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 his attention, and to this we must now revert. Nepal 
 is a long and narrow mountainous region, in ap- 
 pearance like a band of ribbon, of uniform breadth, 
 stretching from the plains of Hindustan to the high 
 lands of Tibet, some 700 miles long by 100 broad. 
 On the north it is bounded by the Himalayas, on the 
 south by Delhi, Rohilkhand, Oudh, and the Bengal 
 provinces, and on the east and west by the Tista 
 river and the Sutlej- respectively. Nepal was always 
 outside the pale of the Mughal Empire ; but as it 
 forms the upper fringe of the northern basin of the 
 Ganges, with no natural barrier on the south, its 
 geographical position is important and connects it 
 closely with the territories in English possession. 
 
 The original inhabitants were of Tibetan stock, 
 among whom Hindu colonists settled, led it is sup- 
 posed by Rdjput chieftains who established themselves 
 as petty independent Rajas over the country. There 
 was perpetual war and perennial anarchy, until a 
 mountain tribe, called the Gurkhas, overran in 1767 
 the valley of Khatmandu, and gradually extended 
 their conquests over the whole region known as Nepal. 
 The Gurkhas claimed to be of Rajput descent ; they 
 were organised on a military and feudal basis, with 
 an army trained on the English model, and were far 
 superior in national discipline and in political intelli- 
 gence to the races they conquered. In less than fifty 
 years they acquired and consolidated supreme power, 
 gave their name to the whole country, and, notwith- 
 standing internal commotions, prosecuted their foreign
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA /A^ 1813 57 
 
 wars with unabated energy. It was therefore only 
 natural that so warlike and aggressive a people should 
 endeavour to push into the plains and thus come in 
 contact with the British power. Frequent encroach- 
 ments on the part of these mountaineers took place 
 even in the last century, and these led to protests 
 and to reprisals, but not, until Lord Hastings' time, 
 to actual war ^. 
 
 The immediate cause of dispute arose through the 
 treaty of Lucknow, 1801, under which portions of 
 the possessions of the Nawab Wazir of Oudh were 
 ceded to the British Government, in lieu of a large 
 sum of money due from that prince. Gorakhpur, a 
 part of these territories, bordered upon Nepal, and on 
 this frontier there were frequent quarrels, which had 
 continued from time immemorial, between the petty 
 Rajas owning the rich plains and the valuable forests 
 beyond, and those who lived in the hills ; as a conse- 
 quence of numerous raids and counter-raids, several 
 chieftains held lands both in Nepal and in Hindustan. 
 Now the EngUsh, on acquiring a province, left all 
 existing rights intact ; but the Gurkhas, on conquering 
 a district, dispossessed the Eajas of their territories 
 and secured them for themselves ; hence they asserted 
 and vindicated claims on lands in Bengal which were 
 held by chiefs they had ousted from Nepal. Two cases 
 of dispute became prominent during the administra- 
 tion of Sir George Barlow : one^ in which the Nepalese 
 
 " Wilson's Rist. of British India, viii. 4 (title set forth in full in 
 foot-note, ante, p. 55 ; and hereafter quoted for brevity as Wilson).
 
 58 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 seized a British fief, called Batwal, held by a hill 
 Raja whose property had been confiscated by them ; 
 and another where a district, Seoraj, was retained by 
 them, on the ground that they had possession of it 
 when the treaty of Lucknow was signed. Sir G. 
 Barlow, while protesting against both these acts, pro- 
 posed that Batwal should be evacuated and Seoraj 
 assigned to the Gurkhas; but the afiair was not 
 pursued further, and the Nepalese remained in occu- 
 pation until 1810-11, when they made further en- 
 croachments from both these places and advanced 
 into another British fief in the district of Saran. 
 
 The Indian Government observing that a gradual 
 invasion was being persistently made into the all- 
 important valley of the Ganges, now endeavoured to 
 regulate the frontier, and early in 181 2 Lord Minto 
 offered to do so on the basis of compromise which had 
 been proposed by his predecessor ; but he received for 
 reply that the Nepalese were in their rights and had not 
 yet occupied all that was due to them. Commissioners 
 from both sides, however, were at last assembled for 
 a judicial investigation of the various claims which 
 had been set up, and upon examination it became 
 apparent that the Gurkhas had no vestige of a right 
 to any of the fiefs they had seized ; a demand was 
 therefore made in 1813 for their evacuation, but as 
 the demand was evaded, Lord Minto addressed in June 
 a formal letter to the Gurkha government calling 
 upon the latter in conciliatory terms to redress the 
 frontier disputes. The answer did ifot arrive until
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA /A^ 1813 59 
 
 Lord Hastings had assumed control of Indian affairs, 
 but it was evident, from what had already passed, that 
 force would have to be employed if the question was 
 to be settled. For a long time the Gurkhas had been 
 unmolested, and in spite of frequent remonstrances 
 they were approaching little by little within a perilous 
 proximity to the centre of the Bengal provinces ; 
 it was therefore necessary to arrest this invasion, 
 which, far from being confined to two or three points, 
 had been allowed to menace the whole length of the 
 frontier ^. 
 
 To sum up : — the area of British influence in India 
 had advanced with gigantic strides in fifty years. It 
 extended not only over the lands in actual possession, 
 but over those also where subsidiary treaties of alliance 
 and protection existed. The friendly native princes 
 were held to the Government of Calcutta by ties of 
 interest and duty, and had acquired thereby a new 
 position which had to be respected and definite rights 
 which had to be maintained. A powerful confedera- 
 tion was being established and a vast Empire was 
 in process of consolidation, — fixed on a firm founda- 
 tion and supplanting that of the Mughals, — at the 
 head of which stood England as Suzerain, and grouped 
 around her, great native feudatories, whose peaceable 
 development she was bound to foster and whose 
 national independence she had to preserve. The 
 
 * Prinsep's Transactions (title set forth in full in footnote, ante, 
 p. 55 ; and hereafter quoted for brevity as Prinsep), vol. i. pp. 
 54, 78.
 
 6o LORD HASTINGS 
 
 north-west of the Indian continent beyond the Sutlej 
 river was, in 1813, outside the pale of her direct ac- 
 tivity, but the sphere of her responsibility spread 
 through more than half the remainder ; that is to 
 say, it extended roughly speaking over the whole 
 of Hindustan, except where a huge double wedge of 
 territory was driven into the centre of the Empire 
 and separated the Presidency of Bombay from the 
 remainder. 
 
 This wedge divided Delhi from Baroda, and formed 
 on the one side an immense irregular triangle whose 
 apex was south of Nagpur near the Godavari river, 
 and on the other side an elongated figure running 
 south as far as Mysore and lying between the sea 
 and the Nizam's dominions of Haidarabad. This 
 alien territory occasioned extensive frontiers, which 
 were not easily guarded, and made communications 
 difficult, sometimes impossible, between the various 
 portions of the growing Empire. But in addition, the 
 independent portion of India was in a state bordering 
 on chaos, and was in close proximity and in intimate 
 relations with states only recently absorbed into the 
 British confederation. Anarchy is always contagious, 
 and a danger had thus arisen which it was time to 
 remove. To effect this, and to settle this immense 
 tract of country, was the great and primary problem 
 that was to occupy Lord Hastings, and his course of 
 action in the matter forms the central object of 
 interest of his administration. 
 
 But on assuming control of affairs, he found himself
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA /TV 1 813 61 
 
 entangled by another and a troublesome question 
 which required adjustment. He had here to deal 
 with a disciplined and brave nation of mountaineers 
 who threatened to make a descent upon the provinces 
 lying close to the very seat of Empire. This nation, 
 composed of men inured to hardships and trained to 
 conquer, might easily arrest the schemes which were 
 being formed for the thorough pacification of India; 
 and hence the questions involved could not be ad- 
 journed and had to be dealt with at once. 
 
 Of minor problems there were of course many, and 
 without counting those of greater importance which 
 have already been alluded to, Lord Hastings says that 
 he bescan his term of ofiice with no less than five 'hos- 
 tile discussions with native powers, each capable of en- 
 tailing resort to arms.' Of these, four were amicably 
 adjusted, and the fifth (the dispute with the Raja of 
 Rewa) was settled by a successful attack upon one of 
 the strongholds of that prince. But in addition to all 
 this, there were serious financial embarrassments to be 
 faced, which threatened to interfere with the great work 
 to be done in Central India. The resources of Bengal 
 were running low, and the treasuries in the three Presi- 
 dencies were nearly exhausted ; there was and there 
 had been a demand for money at home, and this demand 
 had to be supplied ; the rate of exchange was against 
 India, and it was difficult to raise a loan. Economy 
 had therefore been practised, and the military estab- 
 lishments had been reduced in a manner that alarmed 
 the authorities in India. But financial difficulties.
 
 62 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 though they hamper, never baffle the plans of an 
 energetic administrator, and despite the serious in- 
 conveniences felt at the moment, they proved to be 
 temporary only, and the business of government was 
 carried on with vigour and success ^ 
 
 ^ Wilson, Tiii. 3 ; Prinsep, i. 215 ; Summary of the Administration 
 of the Indian Government, from October, 1813, to January, 1823. 
 by the Marquess of Hastings, Governor-General, London, 1824 
 (published in The Pamphleteer, London, vol. xxiv), p. 3, &c.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Story of a Treaty. The Gijekha War, 
 1814-16 
 
 It has already been said that affairs in Nepal claimed 
 Lord Hastings' first attention, and the preliminary pro- 
 ceedings connected therewith have just been related 
 In December, 1813, on receipt of an unsatisfactory 
 answer to the representations made to the Gurkha 
 government in the previous June, the Governor- 
 General replied by peremptorily demanding the 
 evacuation of the districts where encroachments had 
 been made, and, according to precedent, ordered the 
 local magistrate to occupy them if they were not given 
 up in twenty-five days. After the prescribed delay 
 this order was carried out, and the Gtirkhas retired 
 without making the least resistance : it was then sup- 
 posed that the incident was at an end, and police 
 posts were established, the troops being withdrawn. 
 But it was far otherwise ; the Nepalese had determined 
 upon war, though some of the wisest chiefs were 
 opposed to it, and in May they surprised the occupied 
 districts and drove out the police. Lord Hastings 
 now resolved to settle once for all these border disputes,
 
 64 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 which constituted a danger along the whole frontier, 
 especially to Bengal, and after mature consideration, 
 decided to take the offensive ; but he also gave his 
 adversary time for reflection, and did not sign the 
 proclamation which explained the causes of the war 
 till the I st November ^. 
 
 His plan was to invade Nepal by four columns, 
 from two directions. In the west, General Ochterlony 
 (6,000 native troops and 16 guns) was ordered to 
 operate in the hilly country near the Sutlej ; and on 
 his right General Gillespie (1,000 Europeans, 2,500 
 natives, and 1 1 guns) was to push from Meerut to the 
 lower spurs of the mountains, between the upper 
 Ganges and Jumna, and detaching a force against 
 Srinagar, to incline to the left and support the first 
 column. In the east. General J. S. Wood (1,000 Euro- 
 peans, 3,000 natives, and 1 1 guns) was to penetrate into 
 Palpa from Gorakhpur, and to co-operate with the 
 main body under General Marley (1,000 Europeans, 
 7,000 natives, and 26 guns), who was to advance from 
 Patna upon the capital Khatmandu. Besides, local 
 troops were placed in position to defend the rest of 
 the frontier, and a force of 2,coo men was formed 
 under Major Latter, to operate defensively towards 
 Sikkim and to support the Raja of that district against 
 the Gurkhas. Lord Hastings, who had made these 
 dispositions, directed the operations from Lucknow. 
 
 To resist this attack, the Gurkhas had no more than 
 
 ' This proclamation, dated from Lueknow, is printed in full 
 in Malcolm's Jlist. of India, Appendix vii.
 
 THE Gl)RKHA WAR, 1 8 14-16 65 
 
 1 2,000 regular troops and some raw levies imperfectly 
 armed and not always well-affected to their rulers. 
 But the invaders had no easy task to perform. The 
 Indian forces were to advance through a rugged and 
 impracticable region full of defensive defiles, the 
 geography of which was unknown ; they had had no 
 experience in mountain operations, and were not 
 trained to the difficulties it entails ; and their oppo- 
 nents were a warlike people, who were ready to take 
 intelligent advantage of every military position in 
 their native hills, and who had occupied and fortified 
 all the passes that led into the country. 
 
 The campaign opened badly, even disastrously. 
 The two columns in the west advanced, middle of 
 October, and were opposed to Amar Singh, who had 
 only 4000 men under his command ; General Ochter- 
 lony it is true penetrated by paths 'indescribably bad,' 
 and almost impassable, as far as Bilaspur, forcing the 
 local Raja to submit and turning the enemy's position 
 • at Arki, but these partial successes were as nothing 
 when compared with the serious reverses experienced 
 by Gillespie's division. The progress of that column 
 was soon arrested by one hill fort, Kalanga or Nalapani, 
 garrisoned by a mere handful of the enemy, and two 
 assaults were beaten back, the British general was killed, 
 and more than 500 of his men were lost ; after a month's 
 delay, it seemed to dawn upon the invaders that the 
 Gurkhas might be shelled out of the fort, and as there 
 was no bomb-proof cover in Kalanga, the place was at 
 last reduced with ease, and without any further loss, 30th 
 
 E
 
 66 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 November. A strong detachment was then left in the 
 neighbourhood ^^ (the advance on Srinagar being given 
 up), and the remainder now pushed towards Ochter- 
 lony ; but on attempting to assault Jaitak, the attack- 
 ing columns did not come up at the proper time, and 
 being beaten in detail, they were again repulsed with 
 great loss. Nor did the British troops operating in the 
 east improve the fortunes of the war ; Wood's division 
 received a slight check before a stockade, and the 
 commander, believing exaggerated accounts of the 
 enemy's strength, pleaded that he was too weak to 
 advance any further. General Marley also accom- 
 plished absolutely nothing ; but two of his detached 
 posts of 500 men each, which had been left without 
 sufficient support, were surprised and cut to pieces. 
 As a small compensation for the failures in this quarter, 
 however, a portion of the plains of the Tarai was 
 occupied, and the co-operation of the Sikkim Raja 
 was secured. 
 
 This was the state of affairs in the end of January 1 815. 
 Up to that date everything had failed, and the Gurkhas, 
 elated by their victories, still held the passes and defied 
 the numerous forces brought against them. The British 
 had lost heavily ; they were obliged to draw upon 
 
 ^ This detachment commanded the lines of communication be- 
 tween the western and eastern portions of Nepal, and was instru- 
 mental in capturing part of Amar Singh's corresjiondence. It 
 appeared thereby that this chief had opposed the war from the 
 beginning, as incurring a grave risk without necessity, and that he 
 also opposed those who wanted to make terms when the Gurkhas 
 ■were in difficulties. Some of this interesting correspondence is 
 printed in Prinsep's Transactions, i. 457 and 462.
 
 THE GURKHA WAR, 1 8 14-16 6; 
 
 their resources, and drain the garrisons of all available 
 troops, to fill up the gaps occasioned by the disasters, 
 and to supply the unexpected requirements which so 
 serious a mountain campaign had entailed. Reinforce- 
 ments were sent without stint to the eastern theatre 
 of operations ; but notwithstanding every effort made 
 by Lord Hastings to urge an advance towards Khat- 
 mandu, the commanders remained inactive and could 
 not be induced to enter the hills. 12,000 men were 
 also pushed as rapidly as possible to the western 
 divisions, where operations were prudently and ener- 
 getically pursued, and there eventually victory dawned 
 once more upon the British standards. 
 
 Meanwhile the worst effect had been produced in 
 Central India by the war ; the Maratha princes began 
 to realise that the English had suffered a severe 
 repulse ; they imagined that the moment was approach- 
 ing when they could assume the offensive ; communi- 
 cations to this end were going on between the native 
 courts, and between the latter and the Gurkhas ; 
 Amir Khan, the Pathan chief, showed signs of activity, 
 and Ranjit Singh, the celebrated ruler of the Sikhs, 
 was collecting an army at Lahore. Before the war, 
 the Governor-General, having determined that the 
 Pindaris should not repeat their raids into territory 
 under his rule or protection, had already made effective 
 provision against such a calamity ; but at this juncture 
 these precautions had to be redoubled, and a warlike 
 attitude assumed in other directions as well as towards 
 the north. The dangers that menaced the British 
 
 E2
 
 68 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Government at this critical moment caused deep 
 anxiety. Amir Khan, only twelve marches from 
 Delhi, was supposed to have in his camp 30,000 
 fighting men of good quality, and 1 25 guns ; he main- 
 tained his troops with difficulty when constrained to 
 be inactive, and he was waiting in the 'hope of 
 untoward events occurring to us in the Nepalese war, 
 — an expectation founded on the extravagant opinion 
 entertained of the Gurkha power, and on the distorted 
 accounts circulated respecting the reverses we had 
 already sufiered in the contest.' Lord Hastings had 
 4500 cavalry and infantry to resist this threatened 
 invasion, and he meant to put himself at their head 
 should occasion require it. A force of 1000 irregular 
 horse was held in hand to oppose the Pindaris. 
 The troops, moreover, at Cawnpur were left there 
 for the purpose of keeping Sindhia in check, who 
 was at Gwalior, only three marches from the Doab, 
 five from Delhi, and five from Agra^. 
 
 Failure and danger did not discourage the Governor- 
 General; he sought for fresh means to reduce the 
 enemy and, as will be seen, speedily found them ; he 
 set himself vigorously to grapple with the difficulties 
 of the moment, and was all the more determined to 
 bring the war to a successful termination. He attri- 
 buted the checks which the British arms had experi- 
 
 * The Private Journal of the Marquess of Hastings, K.Cr., 
 Governor-General and Commander in Chief in India, Edited by 
 his daughter, the Marchioness of Bute, 2 vols., London 1858, i. 296. 
 (Hereafter quoted for brevity as Private Journal.)
 
 THE GURKHA WAR, I«i4-i6 69 
 
 enced to their proper causes, — in the eastern theatre 
 of operations to inactivity and incapacity, and in the 
 western to imprudence and rashness. Knowing that 
 the Company's armies had never before had to contend 
 against a foe like the Gurkhas, he had been specially 
 careful to provide for contingencies, which his more 
 varied experience in the field had taught him were 
 only too likely to arise in a mountain warfare, directed 
 against so formidable an enemy as the Kepalese. 
 
 ' The mischief which had occurred from inconsiderate 
 attempts to storm places by no means calculated to be 
 earned in that manner, had made me insert as an article 
 in the instructions to each of the generals commanding 
 divisions, a special prohibition against that species of attack 
 upon any works which should be of a quality to require 
 artillery for their reduction. When Colonel Mawbey was 
 to be dispatched against Kalanga, Major-General Gillespie 
 was directed by me to enforce upon Colonel Mawbey's mind a 
 strict attention to the above injunction. I received from Major- 
 General Gillespie an answer, saying that he had impressed 
 strongly on Colonel Mawbey the caution dictated by me. 
 Colonel Mawbey, in consequence, on reconnoitring the place 
 forebore to assault it, and reported to Major-General Gillespie 
 that he meant to establish batteries against it, as he con- 
 ceived it was impossible to carry it by storm. The Major- 
 General on this quitted his own column, repaired to the 
 camp before Kalanga, and on examining the fortress re- 
 solved to assault it. The result was the only one that could 
 be rationally expected. The discredit to our arms, and the 
 baneful influence which this reverse must have upon future 
 operations, are light in comparison to the loss of Major-General 
 Gillespie. Whatsoever was the indiscretion of this last
 
 70 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 step, it cannot detract from the credit due to the many 
 important services achieved by his heroic valour. His zeal, 
 his energy, and his resources rendered him infinitely 
 material for the conduct of operations in a country the 
 features of which are so novel to officers accustomed to 
 the plains of Hindustan. Genius like his would soon have 
 fashioned others to a just conception of the s} stem to be 
 pursued in mountain warfare ; and, deprived of him, I fear 
 they will have to poke their way amid many errors and 
 oversights before they attain such experience as may give 
 them due confidence in themselves ^' 
 
 Animated by such generous sentiments towards a 
 commander, whose indiscretion had led to serious dis- 
 aster, the Governor- General was not long in reviving 
 the morale of his army, where the generals did their 
 duty, and there the troops were not disheartened. 
 Reverses only stimulated them to greater exertions, 
 taught them how to operate in the mountains and 
 to avoid the dangers they presented, and made them 
 imitate the tactics of the enemy, by establishing defen- 
 sive posts for their better security. Fortune moreover 
 favoured Lord Hastings. Bitter dissensions raged 
 among the Pindaris and prevented them from acting 
 together ; Ranjit Singh was threatened by an invasion 
 by the Amir of Kabul and was forced to look after his 
 own affairs, and Sindhia's commanders came to an 
 open rupture and fought among themselves. The 
 danger of an anti-British combination beofan to dis- 
 perse, and a decided advantage was soon obtained by 
 
 ' Private Journal, i. 223.
 
 THE GURKHA WAR, 1 8 14-16 71 
 
 the next step which the Commander-in-Chief took to 
 subjugate the Nepalese. 
 
 The two theatres of the war, on the Sutlej and near 
 the Gandak river, were 400 miles apart, and the 
 Nepalese province of Kumaun, lying between the two 
 and bordering upon Rohilkhand, was untouched by the 
 hostilities, and was almost unoccupied by the enemy. 
 Lord Hastings perceived that an attack upon this 
 province would not only divert the attention of the 
 Gurkhas from the flanks of their kingdom, but that, 
 owing to its peculiar geographical formation, an expe- 
 dition there, if successful, would also cut the country 
 in two, and absolutely isolate Amar Singh ; moreover, 
 knowing that the people of Kumaun were disaffected 
 towards their rulers, he determined to carry the war 
 into that province. Being short of troops he raised 
 levies among the Rohillas, and selected two officers to 
 command them. Colonel Gardner and Major Hearsey, 
 who, previous to 1 802, had served in the Maratha forces. 
 These irregular bodies of troops advanced almost simul- 
 taneously early in February. 
 
 Gardner, aware that his Rohillas could not resist 
 the Gurkhas in open fight, pushed up the Kosi 
 river, and evading a serious engagement, marched 
 round the enemy's flank : after a series of brilliant 
 manoeuvres on their communications, he forced them 
 (38th March) to retire to Almora, the capital of the 
 province, where he followed them, and prepared for 
 future operations. Hearsey proceeded up the river 
 Kali, and at first met with no resistance, but ou
 
 7a LORD HASTINGS 
 
 marching towards his colleague, he found the way 
 blocked by a hill fort, before which he had to spend 
 the month of March in trying to reduce it. 
 
 Lord Hastings, who was all this time directing 
 every military movement from a distance, and who 
 had full knowledge of political events, found that the 
 dangers to be apprehended in Central India in January 
 had now passed away ; he accordingly ordered up a 
 force of 2500 men with 10 guns, under Colonel 
 Nicholls, 23rd March, to the support of Gardner'? 
 irregulars. The junction between these two bodiess 
 was effected early in April, and it was not a 
 day too soon, for Hearsey got into difficulties that 
 might have brought ruin on the whole expedition. 
 
 The Gurkha government finding that they were not 
 pressed in the eastern theatre, and having heard of 
 the Rohilla invasion as well as the necessities of 
 Amar Singh (who as will be seen presently was at 
 this time harassed by Ochterlony), now dispatched a 
 body of troops across the Kali to ward off the danger 
 that threatened them. This force defeated Hearsey, 
 and not only took him prisoner, but recovered all his 
 posts, and overran the country he had conquered. 
 Flushed with this success, the Gtirkhas marched to 
 Almora, and reached that town a day or two after 
 Nicholls had joined Gardner. They now endeavoured 
 to manoeuvre against the British, but on the 23rd 
 April they were defeated and their commander killed, 
 and two days later an outwork of the town was 
 assaulted and carried. The enemy, though much
 
 THE GCRKHA war, 1814-16 73 
 
 pressed in consequence of this misfortune, defended 
 themselves gallantly to the last, and made a spirited 
 night attack ; but after a very severe fight they were 
 again repulsed with loss, and the next day guns were 
 brought to bear at a close range upon the town itself. 
 Finding all further resistance useless, the Gurkha 
 commander proposed to treat, and a convention was 
 agreed to, 27th April 1815, by which the whole province 
 of Kumaun with all its strongholds were surrendered, 
 and the Gurkha troops removed to the east of the Kali 
 river. 
 
 General Martindell, who succeeded Gillespie in the 
 command of the second division, which had already 
 suffered considerably, did not again move against 
 Jaitak till the 12th February; after fighting some 
 skirmishes with varying fortune, and laboriously 
 overcoming the physical difficulties of getting heavy 
 guns into almost inaccessible positions, he levelled the 
 enemy's stockades to the ground by artillery fire, 20th 
 March ; but having accomplished so much, he now 
 unaccountably came to the conclusion that it would 
 be unsafe to assault the open town, though his forces 
 were double the number of those of his opponents, 
 and he preferred to blockade them and reduce the 
 place by starvation. The investment of Jaitak was 
 completed in the middle of April, in the course of 
 which several actions took place, where the British 
 were uniformly successful ; but the process adopted 
 was a lengthy one, and Martindell's plan did not 
 secure the capitulation of the stronghold.
 
 74 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 By the end of March, all the forts that were besieged 
 in the rear of General Ochterlony's advance to Bilaspur 
 were reduced and occupied, and his communications 
 being now clear, he was prepared to take another step 
 forward. Amar Singh stood in the way and occupied 
 a strong fortified position in the mountains near where 
 Simla is now situated, and there Ochterlony deter- 
 mined to attack him, on 14th April. This position 
 having been carefully reconnoitred, it was found that 
 there were two important points in it which were left 
 unfortified and insufficiently held by the enemy, A 
 night attack was undertaken, and while the Gurkhas 
 were amused by feints, the two points were quickly 
 seized and strengthened. It was now, though too 
 late, apparent to the Gurkhas that they had been out- 
 manoeuvred, and that they must either endeavour to 
 recover these places, or submit to have their whole 
 defensive line broken and rendered useless. Adopting 
 the former course they hurled themselves, 2000 strong, 
 desperately and with their wonted valour and fury, 
 against the British troops who had surprised them, 
 and on the i6th fought one of the most severely 
 contested battles of the whole war: but the struggle 
 did not last long ; soon their ardour began to slacken, 
 and then, a counter-attack being made, they were put 
 to flight with a loss of 500 men. The English general 
 immediately pressed forward, and brought up the 
 remainder of his men to close upon Maldun, the 
 principal work of the enemy's position ; early in 
 May a battery was raised against it, and about the
 
 THE GURKHA WAR, 1814-16 75 
 
 same time, the news of the fall of Almora having 
 reached the Gtirkha camp, Amar Singh was deserted 
 by the largest part of his forces. But it was not till 
 a breach had been made in the walls of the fort, 
 on 15th May, that this brave old chief would consent 
 to sign a capitulation. By the convention then 
 agreed upon, the Gurkhas retired to the east of the 
 Kali river, and the whole of the Nepalese territory 
 to the west was surrendered to the English; Jaitak 
 capitulated under this convention. 
 
 The western portion of Nepal, a territory more 
 than 200 miles in length, was thus occupied by 
 these successful operations, and immediate arrange- 
 ments were made for its settlement. The province of 
 Kumaun was taken over and administered by the 
 Government of Calcutta, but the remainder of the 
 conquered tract of country was handed over to the 
 native Rajas whom Amar Singh had dispossessed; 
 the general principle which guided the British author- 
 ities being, to leave as much as possible of these 
 districts in the same condition as they had been prior 
 to the Gurkha invasion, practically free and indepen- 
 dent, but subject to control and protection from 
 Calcutta in case of internal disorders or foreign 
 disputes. Many of the Gurkha troops also who had 
 fought so gallantly against the British, were, owing to 
 the convention, disbanded, and some of them were 
 allowed to take service under their former adversaries ; 
 in this way three battalions were formed from this 
 excellent military material. The season for active
 
 76 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 operations in the field had now passed away, and 
 there was a lull in the war lasting over the summer 
 months. During this time, preparations were made 
 for a renewal of hostilities. The forces in the eastern 
 theatre were reinforced, and a brigade was formed on 
 the Kali and put under Colonel Adams, the former 
 commander in this quarter, Colonel Nicholls, relieving 
 General Wood on the frontier near Palpa ; while 
 General Ochterlony, having been withdrawn from the 
 west, assumed command of the main force destined 
 to march upon Khatmandu. 
 
 It was only natural that the Gtirkha government 
 should seek for peace after the disasters to which 
 they had been subjected, and the summer of 1 8 15 was 
 accordingly devoted to negotiations to this purpose. 
 The following were the terms offered by the Marquess 
 of Hastings : — 
 
 I. Cession of the conquered country from the Sutlej 
 to the Kali river, and of the whole of the Tarai, or 
 the fertile plains skirting the southern limits of Nepal 
 and extending from the upper Ganges to the Tista 
 river ; 
 
 a. Independence of the Sikkim Raja ; and 
 
 3. Acceptance of a Resident at the court of Khat- 
 mandu. 
 
 These terms were rejected, but it was ascertained 
 that the only point which was a real obstacle to a 
 settlement on the above basis was the cession of the 
 Tarai, the court of Khatmandu being ready to give 
 up those portions which were claimed as British
 
 THE Gl^RKHA WAR, 1814-16 77 
 
 territory, but not where the authority of Nepal had 
 always been acknowledged. Lord Hastings being 
 aware of the importance of these plains to the 
 Gurkhas, now drafted a treaty by which the cession 
 of the Tard,i from the Kali to the Gandak river was 
 insisted upon, and of the remainder, only so much as 
 the British troops occupied, offering at the same time 
 an annual subsidy of two lakhs of rupees, as a com- 
 pensation for the loss incurred. He was the more 
 anxious to come to terms with the Raja of Khatmandu, 
 since extension of territory had formed no part of his 
 object, and the war had only been undertaken in 
 order to put an end for ever to Nepalese aggressions 
 and to secure permanently and securely the northern 
 frontiers of the Empire. This draft treaty was declared 
 to be final and to contain the utmost concessions that 
 could be granted ; it was then delivered to the Gurkha 
 envoy, who, not venturing to sign it of his own 
 authority, returned with it to his court and promised 
 to bring back an answer ; he reappeared on the 28th 
 November, and signed the draft treaty at Segauli on 
 that date. 
 
 Meanwhile Lord Hastings had taken into account 
 the protracted nature of these negotiations and had 
 observed the repugnance which the clause relating 
 to the Tarai had excited in the minds of the Gurkhas ; 
 desiring moreover that all future causes of misunder- 
 standing should be avoided, and in order to cement a 
 friendship with a brave people whose good will he 
 hoped to obtain, he stiU endeavoured to make them
 
 78 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 some gratuitous concessions. The treaty was ratified 
 by the Supreme Government of Calcutta on the 9th 
 December, and the latter awaited this necessary form- 
 ality from Khatmandu (which was promised on the 
 15th), to give effect to the conciliatory views which 
 were then to be put into practice. 
 
 But the war faction was again in the ascendent in the 
 Eaja's councils. This faction — holding exaggerated 
 opinions of the value of the fortified passes which, 
 guarding the capital, had never yet been approached 
 by the British forces, apprehensive, moreover, lest the 
 proposed peace should result in the complete over- 
 throw of the Gurkha state and reduce it to a position 
 of dependence and servitude, and having already 
 surrendered the western provinces without hope 
 or means of recovering them — conceived that they 
 had nothing more to lose and much to gain by a 
 renewal of hostilities, and accordingly the ratification 
 of the treaty was rejected, to the extreme astonishment 
 and annoyance of the British authorities. As soon as 
 this became evident. General Ochterlony was forthwith 
 ordered to take the field and a second campaign 
 became inevitable. 
 
 Some delay at first occurred owing to the fact that 
 peace was looked upon as certain, and that a spirit 
 of hasty economy had induced the authorities to sell 
 off" a large quantity of stores, transport, and other 
 warlike necessaries ; it was not therefore until the 
 beginning of February, 1816, that an advance was 
 made into the enemy's country. A large force of
 
 THE GURKHA WAR, 1 8 14-16 79 
 
 nearly 20,000 men, including three European regiments, 
 was by this time collected and divided into four strong 
 brigades, of which one on the right was directed upon 
 Hariharpur, another on the left up the Gandak to 
 Ramnagar, and the remainder, the main body under 
 the general himself, moved straight up the road to 
 Khatmandu. On the loth the latter force reached the 
 entrance of the pass and there found the enemy 
 strongly entrenched behind a triple line of fortification, 
 which being reconnoitred was judged to be too strong 
 to be taken by a direct attack. But the Gurkhas 
 contented themselves with a mere passive defence, 
 and remained quiescent behind their stockades ; thus 
 the invaders were enabled on the 14th to proceed up 
 an unguarded path and turn these formidable defences. 
 
 A brigade started at night on this perilous march, 
 led by General Ochterlony, unaccompanied even by a 
 solitary baggage animal ; they struggled along slowly 
 and laboriously in single file, through deep and rocky 
 defiles, across sombre and tangled forests, and up 
 rugged and precipitous ascents ; but after lengthened 
 toil and numerous difiiculties, their efibrts were amply 
 rewarded, for the next day they reached and occupied 
 a position in rear of the enemy's defences ; and the 
 Gurkhas surprised and almost surrounded were obliged 
 hurriedly to evacuate all their works, and to retreat 
 precipitately to the north without even striking a 
 blow. 
 
 Pressing on as rapidly as possible, the two brigades 
 of the central column formed a junction on the banks
 
 8o LORD HASTINGS 
 
 of the river Kapti, and having established a depot, 
 Ochterlony came up with the enemy at Magwampar, 
 about 20 miles from Khatmandu, and seized a village 
 on the right of their position. The Gurkhas observing 
 their danger in this quarter, attempted to retake the 
 village, and according to their usual practice in such 
 an emergency, charged it furiously with 2000 men, 
 the bulk of their forces ; but in vain, for supports 
 were moved forward, and they were repulsed and 
 driven back within their stockades, leaving some 
 guns and more than 800 men on the field, (28th). 
 Next day the left brigade, which had advanced by 
 Kamnagar, joined the main body, having reached the 
 valley of the Rapti almost without opposition and 
 having secured its rear. The right brigade had been 
 slightly delayed in its advance on Hariharpur, by the 
 difficulties of the ground, but on the ist March this 
 position was successfully turned and an attack of the 
 Gurkhas was defeated with great loss ; the same night 
 Hariharpur was evacuated and the next day it was 
 converted into a depot; the brigade was about to 
 advance, when the commander received an intimation 
 that the war was over. 
 
 The success and the rapidity of General Ochterlony '3 
 operations had at last entirely removed the delusion 
 under which the court of Nepal had laboured. The 
 mountain passes had been proved to be useless, they 
 were turned with ease by British valour, the capital 
 lay open to assault, and dismay reigned supreme at 
 the unexpected result. The official Eed Seal of the
 
 THE GURKHA TF^^, 1814-16 81 
 
 Gurkhas was now affixed in haste to the treaty of 
 Segauli, and dispatched at once to the English camp, 
 with a humble petition that it might be accepted and 
 the past forgotten. General Ochterlony, aware that 
 the unhealthy season was approaching in which it 
 would not be easy to maintain an army in the seat of 
 war, and being fully empowered to do so, received the 
 Nepalese envoy and concluded the treaty; not however 
 before the Gurkhas had made ample submission and 
 had ceded all territory up to the Rapti, which was 
 now constituted as the new frontier. 
 
 Thus at last was peace made, after many incidents, 
 disappointments, and successes, and the crushed 
 Nepalese evinced much alacrity to perform its con- 
 ditions. Lord Hastings, seeing that they were duly 
 humbled and knowing that victory placed him above 
 the suspicion of weakness, could now afford to be 
 generous ; he therefore gave effect to the conciliatory 
 policy which he conceived would produce a lasting 
 friendship between Calcutta and Khatmandu. These 
 final arrangements were made later, and a frontier 
 was traced out and marked by pillars of masonry; 
 the English, in lieu of the annual subsidy of two 
 lakhs of rupees, gave back to Nepal the Tarai, 
 and only retained such parts as were necessary to 
 rectify the border line ; but a small strip of these 
 plains was also handed over to the Raja of Sikkim — 
 with whom a protective treaty was signed February, 
 1817; moreover, as the Nawab Wazir of Gudh had 
 relieved the Governor-General from serious financial 
 
 F
 
 82 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 embarrassments during the contest, and had advanced 
 two crores of rupees for the maintenance of the war, 
 the Tarai which skirted that prince's territory was 
 retained and was given to him, in payment of half 
 the debt so incurred. 
 
 The treaty of Segauli ^, as modified by the arrange- 
 ments just mentioned, defines British relations with 
 Nepal ever since that time, and the peaceable attitude 
 maintained by that nation towards the Indian Govern- 
 ment furnishes the best proof of the moderation and 
 the wisdom which formulated its provisions. These 
 provisions, having already been stated, need not be 
 further alluded to here ; it is sufficient to say that 
 they gradually effected the purpose for which they were 
 intended. As a result of the war, all danger for the 
 northern frontier has been happily removed for ever : 
 irritating questions with a neighbour, powerful for 
 evil in moments, of adversity, have been definitely 
 settled ; and the best fighting material that India 
 affords has been enlisted, and has proved its valour, 
 in the defence of British supremacy in that continent. 
 
 It may be interesting to observe here, that the 
 Chinese interposed in the arrangements made with 
 Nepal. The Celestial Empire exercised a sort of 
 suzerainty over the country, and when everything 
 was well over, wanted to know (end of 1816} what 
 the struggle was all about. A correspondence took 
 place between Calcutta and Pekin on the subject, 
 when the Chinese authorities declared themselves 
 
 ' The text of this Treaty is given in Prinsep's Transactions, i. 473.
 
 THE GURKHA WAR, 1814-16 83 
 
 satisfied, but hinted that the Resident should be re- 
 moved from Khatmandu. The Governor-General, how- 
 ever, informed them that at least one civilised nation 
 ought to be represented at that capital, and ingeniously 
 suggested that a mandarin would suit his purpose 
 equally well, — an inadmissible proposal, as he knew 
 well, seeing that the Chinese government was too 
 exalted an authority then to condescend to foreign 
 missions ^. 
 
 The news of the Gurkha war was at first received 
 with unmitigated regret in England. The Charter of 
 1813 had thrown open the Indian trade, and had 
 destroyed the Company's monopoly, and it had been 
 hoped that the use of money might partially serve to 
 nullify this obnoxious enactment. Many members of 
 the Court of Directors resented the diversion of these 
 funds to a military expedition, and appeared even to 
 think that a war which had become supremely neces- 
 sary must be neglected because it interfered with a 
 commercial speculation. The Court, indeed, did not 
 propose that the Governor-General should submit 
 tamely to unjust encroachment ; but, failing to under- 
 stand the temper of the Gurkha chiefs, they hoped 
 that as the result of local investigation had established 
 'the Company's right to the disputed lands, the 
 government of Nepal would yield to the application 
 for the surrender of those lands ' without the display 
 of force. But Lord Hastings, knowing well that 
 everything short of war had been tried ad nauseam, 
 
 ^ Wilson, viii. 79. 
 F 2
 
 84 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 without success, exhibited little patience with such 
 vacillation, and trenchantly remarked: — 
 
 ' I certainly had an option ; I might shrink from the; 
 declaration plighted by Lord Minto, abandoning the property 
 of the Company, sacrificing the safety of our subjects, and 
 staining the character of our government, or I had to act up 
 to the engagements bequeathed to me, and to reprove the 
 trespass of an insatiable neighbour. That I should have 
 chosen the latter alternative will hardly afford ground for 
 censure '.' 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell upon the criticisms made 
 by the Court of Du-ectors on the dispositions for the 
 war planned by the Governor-General, — at one time 
 advocating defensive operations (the futility of which 
 had been amply demonstrated by Generals Wood and 
 Marley early in 1815), and again a concentration of 
 forces (neglecting local circumstances which made the 
 opposite course the most judicious), — it is more satis- 
 factory to observe that at the termination of the war, 
 the Court with generous unanimity bestowed praise 
 and thanks upon the Governor-General and the 
 gallant General Ochterlony, who had both of them 
 fulfilled their difficult tasks with such conspicuous 
 success and with such advantage to the best interests 
 of India ^. 
 
 ' Wilson, viii. 76. 
 
 "^ It was upon this occasion that Lord Moira was created Marquess 
 of Hastings, and at the same time General Ochterlony, who had 
 previously been made a K.C.B., was also created a Baronet.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The Gathering of the Storm. Events 
 IN Central India, i 8 14-16 
 
 It was not long before Lord Hastings became 
 impressed with the lawlessness which prevailed in 
 Central India, and early in 1814 he made strong re- 
 presentations to the home authorities on the subject ; 
 but meanwhile he neglected no precaution calculated 
 to maintain peace in British territory, and with this 
 object he considered two courses which seemed to be 
 open to him. A subsidiary treaty with the Bhonsla 
 Raja of Nagpur presented the best advantages, as 
 thereby a secure central position would be acquired, 
 communications between Bundelkhand and Haidara- 
 bad strengthened, and a great length of frontier 
 defended. But the old nesjotiations which had been 
 begun with that ruler in 1813, on being revived, 
 failed in 18 14, and nothing more for the present was 
 to be expected in that quarter. The other plan was 
 to connect the north and the south by a line of friendly 
 native states, of which Bhopal was the most important ; 
 and here circumstances contributed to render the 
 realisation of this course probable.
 
 85 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Bhopal had been seriously threatened by Sindhia 
 and the Bhonsla, who in October, 1813, combined 
 their forces and laid siege to the town with nearly 
 70,000 men. The intrepidity of the Nawab, Wazir 
 Muhammad, beat off this formidable attack, but the 
 danger did not pass away till the end of 1814, and 
 in his distress he applied to the Indian Government 
 for assistance, through Mr. Metcalfe, the Resident at 
 Delhi. Protection was offered to him, October, 1814, 
 on the usual conditions of a subsidiary alliance, and 
 at first the negotiations appeared to offer some pros- 
 pect of success. On the other hand, Sindhia displayed 
 much displeasure at a proposal which withdrew a 
 victim from his grasp ; nor was his disappointment 
 lessened by the fact that on the fall of Bhopal he 
 hoped to reap all the fruits of the victory and, ob- 
 taining a lever against his ally the Bhonsla, to gain a 
 preponderating influence over the Maratha states. 
 The Peshwa and the Raja of Nagpur also secretly 
 resented the interference in a native state they had 
 been accustomed to harry ; and hence, in the winter of 
 1 8 14-15, when the English were involved in reverses 
 in Nepal, the mutual jealousies of the discordant 
 elements in Central India subsided, and had the Mara- 
 thas, Pindaris, and Pathans been ready to strike then, 
 they might have compromised British prestige. But 
 they were not ready, and were overawed by the vigour 
 of the Governor-General, who raised fresh battalions, 
 reinforced Bundelkhand, and concentrated large bodies 
 of troops near the seat of probable disturbance.
 
 EVENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA, ] 814-16 87 
 
 Meanwhile Wazir Muhammad had derived no small 
 benefit from these arrangements; he was considered 
 to be under the protection of Calcutta, and interference 
 on his behalf was sufficient to guarantee him from 
 further molestation ; but the danger being past, he 
 cooled down in his desire to establish definite relations 
 with the Supreme Government, and the latter, per- 
 ceiving that events in Central India now took a less 
 acute form, while British arms were again in the 
 ascendent in Nepal, countermanded the military ar- 
 rangements which had been made and dropped the 
 negotiations with Bhopal. 
 
 The scene now changes to Poona, where Baji Rao 
 reigned, who was reputed to be a crafty intriguer of 
 unscrupulous character but without much personal 
 bravery. The treaty of Bassein had placed him in a 
 position of dependence, but it also lent him the aid of 
 British bayonets in supporting his rights against his 
 feudatories, and thus he had the means of enforcing 
 claims which otherwise he was powerless to assert. 
 He had rights over other states, notably those of 
 a financial nature over the Gaekwar of Baroda, the 
 origin of which need not be explained here. The 
 Supreme Government, anxious to adjust them on an 
 equitable basis, suggested that the latter's minister, 
 Gangadhar Shastri, — a firm upholder of British in- 
 fluence, — should go to Poona for this purpose; and 
 this he did in June, 18 14, having first obtained a 
 guarantee from Calcutta for his personal safety. The 
 Peshwa, intent on forming a strong anti-British com-
 
 88 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 bination among the Maratha states, hoped to be able 
 to secure the adherence of the Gaekwar to his schemes, 
 by means of this envoy. He therefore concurred in 
 the negotiations proposed, but he failed in his object 
 of gaining the Shastri to his cause. He was at this 
 time in the hands of a favourite called Trimbakji, 
 a low-caste Hindu of a very disreputable character 
 who enjoyed his entire confidence, and who had risen 
 by base means to the highest position at Baji Kao's 
 court. Aided by this man, the Peshwa succeeded not 
 only in delaying and thwarting the Shastri's efforts, 
 but also in fomentinef intriojues at Earoda, detrimental 
 to the negotiations and to British treaty rights in both 
 those Maratha states. Mr. Elphinstone, the Resident 
 at Poona, now intervened and protested warmly 
 against these delays, with the result that the Peshwa 
 completely altered his tone, and seemed as anxious to 
 promote the Sliastri's suit as he had formerly endea- 
 voured to ignore it. But the change in his demeanour, 
 although it flattered the envoy, did not alter the 
 loyalty of the latter towards British interests, and 
 Baji Rao, urged by Trimbakji, determined to get rid 
 of him. Having adroitly persuaded Gangadhar to 
 accept a proposal, against his better judgment, which 
 was rejected at Baroda, the Peshwa and his favourite 
 conceived a violent animosity against him, which, 
 carefully concealed, was soon to end in a serious 
 catastrophe. In July, 1815, the Shastri was inveigled 
 into accompanying them to a distant Hindu shrine, and 
 was there treacherously and barbarously murdered.
 
 EVENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA, 1 814-16 89 
 
 Trimbakji's guilt was clear, and that of the Peshwa 
 scarcely admitted of any doubt, but the latter vehe- 
 mently protested his own innocence, and his personal 
 repudiation of the crime was accepted ; the victim, 
 however, was an accredited envoy, whose safety was 
 specially guaranteed by the Governor-General, and 
 the murder had to be avenged. The Resident there- 
 fore put the Peshwa's sincerity to the test, and imme- 
 diately demanded the apprehension of the guilty fa- 
 vourite. A crisis now arose ; Baji Rao hesitated between 
 the sacrifice of a powerful and useful accomplice, and 
 a rupture with the British Government, and thus 
 every subterfuge was exhausted, and delay resorted to 
 to save the culprit ; but Mr. Elphinstone remained 
 firm to his reasonable demand, and at last, on the 1 1 th 
 of September, Trimbakji was surrendered and con- 
 fined in a fort near Bombay. This incident being 
 terminated, the negotiations which had been inter- 
 rupted were renewed, but the Peshwa took little 
 interest in them, devoting himself with more zest to 
 the formation of a INIaratha combination asrainst 
 British supremacy. On the other hand, the murder of 
 a high-caste Brahman which had been committed 
 almost before the eyes of the foremost Maratha prince 
 lowered his cause in public estimation, while the 
 manner in which the crime had been avenged by 
 the Resident gave Government an advantage when 
 the struggle became imminent. 
 
 As former representations, sent to England, referring 
 to the atrocities perpetrated by the Pindaris, produced
 
 90 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 no effect, Lord Hastings formulated a more urgent 
 demand on that important matter, in December 1815. 
 He had fully made up his own mind to the necessity 
 of eradicating this evil, and he determined to relieve 
 India of a scourge which was a reproach to govern- 
 ment, and which rendered all peaceable development 
 impossible. He proposed, not for the first time, to 
 establish a general confederation of native states 
 under the guarantee of British protection, as the only 
 means of putting down the predatory system, which 
 was daily taking deeper root in the country, and 
 disintegrating the territory under the Company's juris- 
 diction ; he boldly stated that ' if there was no choice 
 left, he should prefer an immediate war with the 
 Marathas, for which he was fully prepared, to an 
 expensive system of defence against a consuming 
 predatory warfare, carried on clandestinely by the 
 Maratha powers, wasting our resources, till they might 
 see a practical opportunity of coming to an open 
 rupture.' But his efforts to insure the safety of the 
 Company's possessions were thwarted by his Council 
 at Calcutta, and the plan which he elaborated had 
 therefore to be submitted to England without the 
 concurrence of his colleagues ^. 
 
 The home authorities also were still fully persuaded 
 of the wisdom of the policy which had been adopted 
 in 1805, and desired that it should be continued. 
 They were influenced by the fear they entertained for 
 
 ' .J. C. Marshman's lUat. of India, 3 vols., London, 1867, ii. 312. 
 (Hereafter quoted as Marshman.)
 
 EVENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA, 1 8 14- 1 6 91 
 
 the Maratha princes, more especially for Sindhia; 
 they accordingly urged that peace should be main- 
 tained, at any price however degrading, and they 
 enjoined that economy should be practised. Animated 
 by such sentiments they prohibited the Indian Govern- 
 ment ' from engaging in plans of general confederacy, 
 and offensive operations against the Pindaris, either 
 with a view to their utter extirpation, or in anticipa- 
 tion of expected danger ^.' 
 
 This dispatch was received at Calcutta in April, 
 1 816, but before that date the Pindaris became bolder, 
 as they observed British indifference to their proceed- 
 ings, and, urged by the Maratha chiefs, who for their 
 own purposes encouraged them to make their raids in 
 the Company's territories, they subjected the latter to 
 fearful outrages. Towards the close of 18 15 they laid 
 waste the Nizam's dominions, penetrating even beyond 
 the Kistna river into the Madras Presidency, and not- 
 withstanding the strenuous exertions made to overtake 
 them, they escaped capture and brought an immense 
 amount of booty back to their haunts in the valley of 
 the Narbadd,. Nor was this all, for in the following 
 February they made a still more destructive incursion 
 into the Northern Circars, and devastated a province 
 where security had been enjoyed by fifty years of 
 British rule. 
 
 ' I have read a letter/ writes the Governor-General, ' from 
 the Guntur Circar, on the coast, stating a very affecting 
 circumstance. A village was surrounded by the Pindaris. 
 ' Marshman, ii. 305.
 
 92 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 The horrors perpetrated by these demons at other places 
 made the poor villagers, totally unarmed and incapable 
 of resistance, fly to the desperate resolution of burning 
 themselves with their wives and children. The houses 
 were all of wood and palm-leaf mats ; so that most of them 
 being set fire to at oiice, the dreadful sacrifice was imme- 
 diately fulfilled. Some boys who had not the courage to 
 bear the flames, escaped, and exjilained the circumstance. 
 All the remainder of the inhabitants perished; and I am 
 strictly forbidden by the Court of Directors to undertake 
 the suppression of the fiends who occasioned this heart- 
 rending scene, lest I should provoke a war with the Marathas. 
 Hundreds of women belonging to other villages have drowned 
 themselves in the wells, not being able to survive the 
 pollution they had suffered. All the young girls are carried 
 off by the Pindaris, tied three or four, like calves on a 
 horse, to be sold. . . They carried off booty to the value 
 of more than a million stei'ling\' 
 
 In March, 1816, Wazir Muhammad of Bhopal died, 
 and was succeeded by his son Nasir Muhammad, 
 a young prince whose power to sustain his position 
 amid the troubles that surrounded him appeared to be 
 very doubtful : an application was immediately made 
 for protection, but Lord Hastings, being hampered in 
 this matter by the home authorities, had reluctantly 
 to forego the great advantages which he saw must 
 result from a treaty with that state, and was obhged 
 to limit his answer to general sentiments of goodwill 
 and amity. 
 
 In the same month, however, an important event 
 took place in Nagpur; Raja Raghuji the reigning 
 
 1 Private Journal, ii. 112.
 
 EVENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA, 1814-16 93 
 
 Bhonsla died, and his son Pursaji, being blind and 
 imbecile, was incapable of ruling. Thereupon two 
 chiefs contested the right of being named regent or 
 virtual master of this important principality. Mah- 
 duji, Raghuji's nephew, commonly called Apa Sahib, 
 being next heir according to native custom, had the 
 best title to the office, and he enforced his claim by the 
 capture of his rival ; but feeling himself still insecure, 
 he proposed the conclusion of a subsidiary alliance 
 with the British Government. The importance of this 
 overture could be scarcely overrated, and it became 
 all the more apparent, even to the Indian Council, 
 after the Pindari irruption, just mentioned, had shown 
 the apparent ease with which these detestable free- 
 booters were able to devastate with impunity a 
 British province. The Governor - General" therefore 
 experienced little difficulty in complying with Apa 
 Sahib's request, and a subsidiary treaty was signed on 
 the 27th May. By such an alliance, security was ob- 
 tained for 300 miles of frontier, which up to that time 
 was almost totally unguarded ; the secret plans of the 
 Peshwa and of Sindhia to re-establish the Maratha con- 
 federacy were disconcerted ; and a military position 
 was occupied near the Narbada, from which the terri- 
 tories of the latter prince were exposed to attack, and 
 whence Pindari raids might in future be more easily 
 intercepted. 
 
 ' I regard this event as giving me the fairest ground of 
 confidence that I shall be able to achieve all I wish to effect 
 for the Company's interest without any war. This rests
 
 94 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 on our presumption of the Pe^hwas fidelity. If lie be 
 treacherous (and there is no answering for a MarathA), we 
 might have a struggle ; but the consequences of such a 
 contest could not now be doubtful, and it would only make 
 the ultimate arrangement more beneficial to the Company ^' 
 
 True to his policy of endeavouring to rid the country 
 of the disorders occasioned by predatory bands of 
 armed freebooters, Lord Hastings had meanwhile 
 turned his attention to Kajputana. In March, 1816, 
 Jagat Singh, Raja of Jaipur, being almost overpowered 
 by Amir Khan, urgently prayed for British protection ; 
 the Governor-General had been empowered to comply 
 with such a request, by authority dated December, 
 1813, and, after some difficulty, succeeded in per- 
 suading his Council that it was proper to offer him 
 a subsidiary alliance. Jagat Singh, however, delayed 
 the negotiations which followed, so that it was not 
 till later that the treaty was definitely concluded; but 
 he gained the advantage which the concentration of 
 40,000 British troops near Rajputana afforded, and 
 this display of force, made for the purpose of defending 
 the proposed arrangements, convinced Amir Khan 
 that the Supreme Government was at length deter- 
 mined to put a stop to the anarchy which he was 
 causing in that distracted district. 
 
 In the season 1816-17, ^^® Pindaris pursued again 
 the same tactics as in the previous year. They in- 
 vaded British territory, 23,000 strong, and ravaged 
 many parts of the country, from Ahmadnagar in the 
 
 * Private Juurnal, ii. 125.
 
 EVENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA, 1814-16 95 
 
 •west of the Indian continent to the Northern Circars 
 in the east, and attempted even to devastate the 
 province of Cuttack. Divided into numerous bands, 
 and moving simultaneously to different places far 
 apart from each other, they traversed a much larger 
 extent of territory than they had ever done before, 
 and caused a wide-spread terror by their ferocious 
 and merciless excesses. At first they succeeded in 
 eluding the vigilance of the troops sent in their 
 pursuit ; but extraordinary precautions had been 
 taken, and an army large enough to engage in an 
 important campaign had been collected ; and thus in 
 the course of the winter, many of the Pindari bands 
 were fortunately overtaken, attacked, and destroyed. 
 
 Lord Hastings was by no means satisfied with these 
 partial successes, and waited with impatience for 
 authority to root out altogether this lawless associa- 
 tion. He had been thwarted in his endeavour to do 
 so by the opinions of his colleagues, and by instruc- 
 tions received from England. These, being conceived 
 in a spirit of exaggerated dread of the Maratha power, 
 produced a passive policy of defence, which was 
 wholly inefiectual against incursions of predatory 
 hordes, whose irruptions extended over a wide range 
 of frontier. He clearly saw that the tranquillity, and 
 even the safety, of British possessions demanded the 
 destruction of that dangerous race of banditti. He 
 had no sympathy whatsoever with the vacillation dis- 
 played at home, nor with the timorous policy it dic- 
 tated, and he repudiated with scorn a suggestion that
 
 96 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 the Pindaris might be overcome by intrigue, by setting 
 chief against chief, and b}^ fomenting internal disputes 
 among them. ' When the Honourable Committee,' he 
 said, ' suggest the expediency of engaging one portion 
 of the Pindari association to destroy another, I am 
 roused by the fear that we have been culpably deficient 
 in pointing out to the authorities at home the brutal 
 and atrocious qualities of these wretches . . . and I am 
 confident that nothing would have been more repug- 
 nant to the feelings of the Honourable Committee, 
 than the notion that the Government should be soiled 
 by a procedure, which was to bear the colour of a 
 confidential intercourse in a common cause with any 
 of these gangs i.' He knew that the evil must be 
 crushed, without the concession of any terms to 
 anarchy, and he was convinced that it could be sup- 
 pressed if the determination to do so existed ; he 
 believed moreover that the native princes would have 
 to submit to its removal, without attempting seriously 
 to interfere with the adoption of such a course. 
 
 Meanwhile the Board of Control in England, en- 
 lightened by the events of 1815-16, which could no 
 longer be explained away, had tardily, in September. 
 1 816, addressed a letter to the Governor- General, 
 giving him a reluctant and qualified authority to 
 suppress the Pindaris, and to destroy their future 
 means of action. But before this letter had reached 
 Calcutta, his advisers in the Indian Council were 
 frightened at the ravages which had been perpetrated 
 
 ^ Mai-shman, ii. 317.
 
 EVENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA, 1 814-16 97 
 
 in British territory in the season 1816-17, and they at 
 last agreed that ' the resolution adopted of refraining 
 from any system of offensive operations against the 
 Pindarls, till the sanction of the Court could be 
 received, should be abandoned, and that vigorous 
 measures for the suppression of the Pindaris had 
 become an indispensable object of public duty^' 
 Armed with this important decision, without which 
 he was powerless to act, Lord Hastings now took 
 his own measures ; and having made up his mind 
 definitely on the plan to be pursued, and upon its 
 feasibility, he detemiined on the 21st December to 
 attack the Pindaris, and he gave immediate notice of 
 this intention, to be carried out in spite of obstacles 
 which might be raised by open or secret foes ^. 
 
 The execution of this project was necessarily delayed 
 until the following autumn, 1817; but in the mean- 
 while the Supreme Government was not inactive, and 
 in addition to the military arrangements necessary 
 for the undertaking, prepared for the contingencies 
 that were likely to arise. It was evident to the 
 Governor-General that the annihilation of the preda- 
 tory system must entail a thorough change in the 
 conditions then existing in Central India. The evil 
 that grew there in such alarming proportions was no 
 accidental circumstance ; in his opinion it was the 
 
 * Marshman, ii. 320 ; P. Auber's Rise and Progress of the British 
 Power in India, 2 vols., London, 1837 (hereafter quoted as Auber), 
 ii. 519 ; Private Journal, ii. 153. 
 
 ^ Prinsep, i. 411. 
 
 a
 
 98 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 direct result of chronic anarchy, which arose from the 
 inordinate and unchecked ambition indulged in by 
 the native rulers. All these princes were scrambling 
 for personal power, and not one of them was safe from 
 the inroads of his neighbours ; their councils were 
 divided, and their tributaries in constant rebellion; 
 their armies were continually clamouring for their pay, 
 and their military leaders in a perpetual state of 
 insubordination; they observed no duties, and they 
 acknowledged no rights ; society under their guidance 
 was crumbling into ruins, and their subjects were 
 pursuing their own selfish advantages. It was only 
 natural, then, that men should combine to plunder 
 and to devastate, and should continue to do so until 
 there was a complete revolution in the native ideas of 
 government. Without a reform in the lands subject 
 to Maratha influence, the reign of rapine must flourish, 
 and if put down by force it must revive again like a 
 noxious weed, and occasion ever-recurring exertions 
 to give some temporary immunity from its ravages. 
 
 The conclusion was obvious, and the remedy could 
 only be found in the imperial system introduced by 
 Lord Wellesley. Some great power must arise in 
 India, and weld the whole mass into a solid and 
 civilised confederacy, bound together by the supremacy 
 of public law and respect for international obligations, 
 where the weak would find protection, and where all 
 could enjoy security for their legitimate rights. India 
 had been accustomed to a lord paramount, whom all 
 acknowledged, and who in a fashion settled disputes,
 
 EVENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA, 1814-16 99 
 
 and checked the ambition of the strong ; the absence 
 of such a power, however imperfectly wielded by the 
 Mughals, had produced disorder, and had interfered 
 with the prosperity of British possessions. England 
 alone could occupy this position, and the assumption 
 of so onerous a responsibility was not only the natural 
 result of her commanding prestige and ascendency in 
 the East, but was also the direct consequence of the 
 Governor-General's determination to stamp out alto- 
 gether the bands of organised freebooters that infested 
 the country. 
 
 Lord Hastings did not despair of carrying out his 
 design by peaceable means, and spared no pains to 
 induce the native chiefs to co-operate with him against 
 the Pindaris ; he hoped to establish in this manner a 
 community of interests, by which to arrive at an 
 understanding with the most considerable pi'inces of 
 Central India, and so promote the public and general 
 tranquillity. In his own words, ' it was his boast to 
 have an earnest desire to accomplish everything by 
 pacific means, and to be able to declare with sincerity, 
 that the exclusive object of his present preparations 
 was to get rid of the greatest pest that society ever 
 experienced ' ; and if he had not the full sanction of 
 the home authorities upon the measures he proposed, 
 yet he took the whole responsibility of this action upon 
 himself, and felt sure that the result would justify 
 him in the eyes of British public opinion^. But he 
 did not disguise from himself that negotiations might 
 
 ^ Prinsep, ii. 23. ' 
 
 G %
 
 lOO LORD HASTINGS 
 
 fail. He was aware that he had not merely to disperse 
 a band of brigands, but to destroy a system which 
 had taken deep root in the native states. Interference 
 with this system must entail hostility from powerful 
 Maratha chiefs, who, busily engaged in plotting against 
 the British authority, and accustomed to the licence 
 of unbounded independence, were scarcely to be re- 
 strained by treaties, however solemn and binding. 
 The attitude of the native states gave cause for much 
 anxiety, and a war once begun against the Pindaris 
 might easily extend, and produce a general conflagra- 
 tion. Hence arrangements, both political and military, 
 had to be made to meet many contingencies. The nature 
 of these arrangements will be described in the next 
 chapter; but before closing the present one it will 
 be necessary to recapitulate briefly the dispositions 
 of the native princes most concerned in the coming 
 struggle, at the important juncture (end of 1 8i6) when 
 the determination was formed to crush the Pindaris. 
 
 The Peshwa was outwardly on good terms with the 
 Supreme Government, but he had been humiliated by 
 events succeeding the Shastri's murder, and his under- 
 hand energy had not diminished, nor did he cease his 
 secret schemes of revenge and ambition, which he 
 continued to push on with unremitting vigour. Apa 
 Sahib, regent of Nagpur, was apparently content with 
 British protection, and was interested for the present in 
 preserving good relations with Calcutta ; but he was a 
 new and untried ruler, and his professions of loyalty 
 could not be much relied upon. It has already been
 
 EVENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA, 1814-16 lOl 
 
 mentioned that the court of the young Holkar, Malhar 
 Rao, was in confusion, owing to the contests going 
 on between his father's widow, Tulsi Bai, and Amir 
 Khan (who acted through his relation and agent, 
 Gafur Khan) ; these two parties came to an open 
 rupture in the winter of 181 6-1 81 7, but neither side 
 gained any very great advantage over the other. 
 Owing to these complications^ the British Government 
 had had very few communications with Holkar since 
 1808. Daulat Rao Sindhia was one of the most 
 powerful of the Maratha princes, and his hostility 
 was specially to be feared ; after having been foiled 
 in his schemes against Bhopal and the Bhonsla Raja 
 by the action of Lord Hastings, he endeavoured to 
 assist the Peshwa in his plan of consolidating Maratha 
 influences, and he favoured the Pindaris by promising 
 to support them and by directly inciting them to 
 ravage the Company's territory ; but his power was 
 temporarily reduced by internal dissensions and by 
 disorganization among his troops. It was well under- 
 stood that both Sindhia and Holkar were too much 
 interested in maintaining the predatory system not 
 to support it to the utmost extent of their means, 
 should their internal difficulties be arranged and 
 their circumstances enable them to take the offensive. 
 No anxiety was felt for the attitude of the Gaekwar's 
 government, and it was hoped that Bhopal and many 
 of the Rajput chiefs would be favourably disposed to 
 British plans ; but there was some uneasiness with 
 regard to the Nizam, for his subjects were restless
 
 I02 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 and excitable, and had only recently been roused 
 by a rising — happily unsuccessful — which had been 
 attempted by the sons of that prince. 
 
 It was clear then that a crisis of no small magnitude 
 was impending,— one which was likely to produce an 
 important eflfect upon the fortunes of the Company 
 in India, and to form one of the principal landmarks 
 in the history of the progress of British power in 
 Asia.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Struggle, 1817. The PiNDARf War. The 
 MarathX. Powers rise in Revolt. 
 
 In order to carry out the great policy of reforra 
 which he contemplated in India, the Governor- General 
 first proceeded by negotiation to enlist the co-operation 
 of the native princes against the Pindaris and to prevent 
 a combination in their favour ; he neglected no ruler 
 that could be useful to his design, and assumed the 
 principle that in the coming struggle none could be 
 neutral. He endeavoured therefore to improve re- 
 lations with Poona and Nagpur, and approached 
 Sindhia, Holkar, many chiefs in Central India and in 
 Rajputana, and even Amir Khan, whom he hoped to 
 conciliate and wean from his irregular and disorderly 
 conduct. Subsidiary treaties were accordingly, in 1 8 1 7, 
 concluded with several states in the province of Malwa, 
 and with Nasir Muhammad of Bhopal, who proved 
 himself to be a staunch and faithful ally ; in Rajputana 
 also, the negotiations with Jagat Singh of Jaipur, 
 which had been delayed, induced the Rajas of Udaipur 
 and of Jodhpur and others to apply for protection, 
 and towards the end of the year alliances were
 
 104 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 formed with them, enabling the Supreme Government 
 to deal with disorder in Western Hindustan in a 
 more effectual manner than otherwise would have 
 been the case. 
 
 Meanwhile affairs had not prospered at Poona. 
 In September, 1816, Trimbakji — the Shastrl's mur- 
 derer and the Peshwa's evil genius — after scarcely 
 a year's imprisonment, escaped, and, eluding every 
 effort made for his recapture, disappeared from sight 
 for a few months. Baji Rao disowned his favourite 
 to the Resident, and even assumed a conciliatory 
 attitude, professing himself in hearty sympathy with 
 the project against the Pindaris, and concluding a 
 reasonable accommodation with the Gaekwar, Feb- 
 ruary, 1817. But all this time he was covertly in 
 league with Trimbakji himself, and together they 
 were actively preparing a formidable insurrection 
 against British influence and treaty rights in this 
 Maratha state. The treachery having been discovered, 
 fortunately before it came to a head, Mr. Elphinstone 
 declared his intention of sending the subsidiary force 
 to disperse the levies which were being illegally 
 made, and if necessary to coerce the Peshwa to refrain 
 from further aggression. The latter endeavoured to 
 gain time, but the Resident, long accustomed to his 
 tortuous policy and persistent hostility, brooked no 
 further delay, reinforced the British contingent by 
 that of Haidarabad, ordered a strong detachment to 
 Poona, and presented that perfidious prince with 
 an ultimatum. Baji Rao, now thoroughly alarmed,
 
 THE STRUGGLE, 1 817 105 
 
 yielded to a demand to surrender three forts as a 
 guarantee for the future, but he still refused to 
 discountenance the proceedings of the Trimbakji. 
 
 A disturbance at Cuttack having at this crisis 
 occasioned a delay in the transmission of the Governor- 
 General's instructions upon the circumstances which 
 had arisen, Elphinstone acted on his own responsibility, 
 and on the 6th May gave the Peshwa a month of 
 grace within which to cease all connection with his 
 favourite. A few days later the instructions so 
 anxiously expected reached Poona, and therein three 
 contingencies were considered and provided for : — If 
 Baji Rao consented to deliver up Trimbakji, and 
 honestly endeavoured to put a stop to the disturbance 
 which he caused, before the arrival of the instructions, 
 then the treaty of Bassein, although grossly violated 
 by recent events, was to be renewed in its old form ; 
 if, after this date, he fulfilled his obligations, the 
 treaty was to be modified, and additional security 
 taken against an untrustworthy ally; and lastly, if 
 he refused, and still persisted in his hostility, he was 
 to be deposed. The month was slipping by ; the 
 Resident took possession of the three forts, collected 
 his forces, and was preparing for action, when the 
 Peshwa, finding all further resistance useless, at last 
 issued a proclamation offering a substantial reward 
 for the apprehension of the escaped murderer, and 
 thereby enabled Elphinstone to come to terms with 
 him by a fresh compact, which, signed the 13th June, 
 replaced the relations established at Bassein in 1802.
 
 106 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 By the treaty of Poona, Trimbakjl was outlawed 
 and his family handed over as hostages, the subsidiary 
 force in Baji Rao's dominions was increased, and the 
 treaty of Bassein was renewed subject to certain 
 modifications ; of these the most important were, 
 that the Peshwa renounced all intrigues in Central 
 India and the suzerainty of the Maratha confederacy; 
 he ceded the sea-board province of Konkan, parts of 
 the Deccan, several of his strongholds, and his rights 
 over Malwd,, in Bundelkhand, and elsewhere in Hin- 
 dustan north of the Narbada. Before the signature 
 of this new arrangement the insurrection had been 
 put down by force, and shortly after the events just 
 recorded, Trimbakjl was driven into the Vindhya 
 mountains. 
 
 Baji Eao had displaj^ed little wisdom in these trans- 
 actions, and derived no benefit therefrom. Profuse in 
 insincere professions, and systematically violating his 
 solemn engagements, he had not the patience to wait 
 till his plans were ripe, nor the fortitude to bear the 
 responsibility which an open revolt entailed. His 
 pusillanimous duplicity was without any excuse, and 
 on the eve of the Pindari war, it might in justice have 
 been severely punished ; but he was leniently dealt 
 with nevertheless, and only sufiicient security was 
 taken against him to ensure his good behaviour in the 
 future. Yet he learnt nothing by experience, for he con- 
 tinued to plot against British power, and in October, 
 under pretence of preparing to assist in the suppression 
 of brigandage, he was collecting a force with which he
 
 THE STRUGGLE, 1 817 I07 
 
 vainly imagined he could reassert his former inde- 
 pendence and rid himself of the control he hated. 
 
 Nor was this the only prince bound by a subsidiary 
 treaty who caused anxiety at this moment. On the 
 1st February Pursaji Bhonsla was found murdered 
 in his palace, and a successor had to be appointed ; 
 the conduct of Apa Sahib, the regent, was not free 
 from suspicion with respect to the crime, yet there 
 was no evidence to prove his participation in it, and, 
 as he was the next heir, he was recognised as the new 
 Bhonsla. Finding himself now firmly fixed upon the 
 Masnad as ruler of Nagpur, and no longer requiring 
 British support to assert his position, he soon altered 
 his demeanour, and joined the Maratha intrigues that 
 were going on against the Government of Calcutta. 
 The collapse of the Peshwd's aspirations, it is true, 
 effected a change, and he resumed his former con- 
 ciliatory attitude ; but only for a time, for in the 
 autumn he was again known to be conspiring against 
 British rights, and when the war began in November, 
 arrangements had almost immediately to be made to 
 counteract the hostility which he displayed, and which 
 at last proved fatal to his dynasty. 
 
 If affairs gave anxiety in the south, they were not 
 more satisfactory in the north. The geographical 
 importance of Daulat Rao's territories in the approach- 
 ing contest, and the power which that prince had to 
 thwart or to facilitate the military operations that 
 were in contemplation, had early engaged the serious 
 attention of the Supreme Government. Application
 
 lo8 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 having been made to Sindhia, in September, for 
 authority to march troops across his territories from 
 the Deccan into the valley of the Narbada, the 
 Maharaja, pressed by his soldiery and relying upon 
 the Peshwa, evaded the demand ; he certainly pre- 
 tended to be intent on the destruction of the Pindaris, 
 and affected anxiety to co-operate by undertaking 
 an expedition against them on his own account. 
 But the Governor-General was in no humour to be 
 thwarted by dissimulation, and, having full knowledge 
 of his aggressive intentions, sent him a formal note of 
 solemn remonstrance. This communication, containing 
 a long catalogue of grievances, declared that they 
 amounted to a dissolution of existing treaties under 
 which alone Sindhia's independence was secured ; it 
 further demanded his cordial and unqualified support 
 in the Pindari war, and warned him that his failure 
 to comply with the requisition would be regarded 
 as an act of hostility. There was abundant proof 
 to substantiate the assertions which had been made, 
 and it was vigorously used to disarm this important 
 native state in the coming struggle. 
 
 The court of Gwalior, unable to resist this pressure 
 openly, was now obliged to consider the following 
 conditions of an alliance which were offered. The 
 article of the treaty of 1805, by which the Indian 
 Government was debarred from having any relations 
 with the principal chiefs in Malwa and in Eajputana, 
 was to be abrogated ; a contingent of 5000 horse was 
 to be placed at the disposal of the Governor-General,
 
 THE STRUGGLE, 1817 109 
 
 to be paid regularly out of funds handed over for 
 that purpose by Daulat Kdo; British military com- 
 missioners were to be received at the head-quarters 
 of all his troops, and as a security for good faith, 
 two strongholds were to be retained, viz., Handia, 
 situated on the Narbadd, a little below Hoshangabad, 
 and commanding one of the important passages across 
 the river, and Asli'garh, a stronger fort in the Satpura 
 mountains. Discussions were continued for a month 
 on this basis, and the usual subterfuges resorted to 
 to gain time and to avoid a definite settlement; the 
 temporary cession of Asirgarh was strenuously re- 
 sisted, and no conclusion was reached when hostilities 
 broke out. 
 
 Negotiations were conducted at the same time with 
 Amir Khan, who was offered a principality about Tonk, 
 formed of the territories he had already acquired from 
 Holkar, on condition that he would disband his army 
 and sell his artillery for five lakhs of rupees to the 
 British Government. Holkar was also approached, 
 and terms proposed similar to those offered to Sindhia, 
 with the addition, however, that the independence of 
 Amir Khan was to be recognised ; no answer was 
 received from the court of Indore for some time. The 
 fate of these proceedings and their results will be 
 described presently ; meanwhile, such being the general 
 relations existing between the Supreme Government 
 and the principal native chiefs at the end of October, 
 when operations in the field were about to commence, 
 it is necessary to turn to the military preparations
 
 no LORD HASTINGS 
 
 which were made simultaneously with the political 
 
 arrangements just described. 
 
 It had been calculated that the following troops 
 
 could be furnished by the native states, their allies 
 
 and dependencies, against the British Government 
 
 when engaged in restoring order in Central India : — 
 
 Horse. 
 
 Sindhia 14,000 
 
 Holkar 20,000 
 
 Peshwa 28,000 
 
 Bhonsla 16,000 
 
 Amir Khan 12,000 
 
 Pindaris 15,000 
 
 Nizam 25,000 
 
 Total 130,000 
 
 Foot. 
 
 Guns. 
 
 16,000 
 
 140 
 
 8,000 
 
 107 
 
 14,000 
 
 37 
 
 18,000 
 
 85 
 
 10,000 
 
 soo 
 
 1,500 
 
 20 
 
 20,000 
 
 — 
 
 87,500 
 
 589' 
 
 In deciding to crush organised brigandage and all 
 who aided and abetted it, Lord Hastings determined 
 to provide himself with ample means for the purpose. 
 For a long time he had been preparing for the struggle, 
 maturing his plans, and accumulating his resources, 
 and all through the summer of 1817 he was occupied 
 in finally completing his arrangements. The Pindaris 
 were to be rooted out of their haunts which lay in 
 Malwa, somewhat to the east of Ujjain, north of the 
 Narbada and between Bhopal and the dominions of 
 Sindhia and Holkar ; to accomplish this it had been 
 decided to surround them on all sides, — on the north 
 and east from Bengal, on the south from the Deccan, 
 
 * Colonel V. Blacker's Memoir of the operations of the British Army in 
 India during the Mardthd War ofiSij-ig, London, 1821, p. 19. (Here- 
 after quoted as Blacker.)
 
 THE STRUGGLE, 1 817 III 
 
 and on the west from Gujarat, — and to keep the 
 native states in check. An extended movement, there- 
 fore, was about to be made inwards, from the circum- 
 ference of a great circle, whose centre was somewhere 
 near Handia and whose diameter was nearly 700 miles 
 in length ; the enormous distances which separated 
 the different bases of operations, the absence of rapid 
 means of inter-communication, and the necessity of 
 simultaneous action, all contributed to render the task 
 which had been undertaken an exceedingly difficult 
 one. 
 
 Lord Hastings commanded the whole grand army 
 destined to perform this vast concentric operation. 
 It was divided into two armies, the Northern or the 
 Army of Hindustan, and the Southern or that of the 
 Deccan. The latter was placed under Sir Thomas 
 Hislop, to whom was given all military and political 
 authority in the south, subject of course to general 
 directions from the Governor-General ; Sir John 
 Malcolm, who also commanded a division, was ap- 
 pointed Political Officer in the Deccan under Hislop. 
 
 The Northern Army, led by Lord Hastings in 
 person (29,000 infantry, 14,000 cavalry, and 140 guns), 
 was composed of four divisions and two corps of 
 observation, posted at Mirzapur and on the frontiers 
 of South Behar against an irruption into Bengal. 
 The Central or ist Division (General Brown) was 
 formed on the Jumna between Kalpi and Etawah, and 
 was to advance southwards towards Gwalior; the 
 Right or 2nd Division (General Donkin) at Agra, to
 
 113 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 overawe Sindhia and Amir Khdn ; the Left or 3rd 
 Division (General Marshall) at Kalinjar in Bundel- 
 khand, to co-operate with the Southern Army on the 
 Narbada, and, supported by the two corps just men- 
 tioned, to communicate with Nagpur and to close the 
 eastern exit of escape to the enemy ; and the Reserve 
 Division (Sii" David Ochterlony) was concentrated 
 somewhat later at Rewari, to cover Delhi and to act 
 in Rajputana. 
 
 Owing to recent events in the Deccan a large 
 number of troops had been employed there, and these 
 when reinforced were formed into the Southern Army, 
 which, organised into six divisions and having the 
 Gujarat corps (under Sir William Keir) attached to 
 it, amounted to 52,000 infantry, 18,000 cavalry, and 
 160 guns. The ist and 3rd Divisions of the Army 
 of the Deccan (under Sir T. Hislop and Sir J. Malcolm 
 respectively) were to march from Jalna and Amraoti 
 upon Handia ; the 2nd Division (General Doveton) 
 was ordered to take up a position on the Penganga 
 in support, and to cover the Nizam's dominions ; the 
 4th Division (General Smith) was placed in the province 
 of Khandesh on the Upper Godavari river, prolonging 
 Doveton's line to the west and communicating with 
 Gujarat; the 5th Division (Colonel Adams) was at 
 Hoshangabad on the Narbada ; the troops engaged in 
 enforcing the stipulations of the treaty of Poona in 
 the south of the Peshwa's dominions were formed 
 (16th November) into the Reserve Division under 
 General Pritzler.
 
 THE PINDARf WAR II3 
 
 The forces concentrated in 1 8 1 7, amounting to nearly 
 1 20,000 men and 300 guns, — the largest army collected 
 up to that time for one purpose under the British flag 
 in India, — included some 29,000 irregulars and con- 
 tingents furnished by native princes, and of these 
 1 9,000 horse were under English officers ; there were 
 also 13,000 European troops distributed evenly among 
 the different divisions, and of these 8,500 were infantry, 
 more than 2,000 cavalry, and the remainder artillery ^. 
 
 Lord Hastings reached Cawnpur in September and 
 intended to have at least two divisions on the Narbada 
 early in October, in order to fall upon the Pindaris 
 when their power of rapid movement was hampered by 
 swollen rivers. But although there had been a di'ought 
 in the north, the rains were more than usually severe 
 in the Deccan and the concentration of that army had 
 in consequence been delayed ; Sir T. Hislop arrived at 
 his head-quarters at Haidarabad in August, and, leaving 
 early in October, did not reach the position close to 
 Handia he meant to occupy, till the 10th November. 
 
 On account of these delays, the Northern Army 
 moved a little later than was at first intended. Lord 
 Hastings attached himself to the Central Division, 
 crossed the Jumna 28th October, and advanced to 
 Siunda on the Sind river. The Right Division left 
 Agra about the same time and marched to Dholpur 
 on the Chambal, and thus early in November two 
 strong corps were posted on the northern frontiers 
 of Sindhia's territories, about sixty miles apart, and 
 ' Blacker, p. 25. 
 H
 
 114 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 scarcely two marches distant from Gwalior. Daulat 
 Rao was completely sui"prised by this skilful and 
 unexpected manoeuvre ; he had barely 8,000 men 
 with him at his capital, the rest of his troops were 
 distributed elsewhere, and he suddenly found himself 
 surrounded and cut off from the other portions of his 
 dominions by two British divisions, who, having seized 
 the passes over the rocky hills between the Chambal 
 and the Sind rivers, blocked his communications to 
 the south. All his hopes of evading the demands 
 which were pressed upon him now disappeared, and 
 he perceived with consternation that while he 
 attempted to engage the Governor-General with un- 
 profitable discussions, the latter had secretly and 
 swiftly swept down upon him, when he was unpre- 
 pared, and left him no option but to agree at once 
 to the terms which were offered. Sindhia reluctantly 
 concluded the treaty of Gwalior (5th November), the 
 stipulations of which have already been mentioned, but 
 he took care to obstruct its execution by every means 
 in his power ; this result was only what was to be 
 expected, and the direct and full effect of the treaty was 
 not immediately felt : that is to say, a decided advan- 
 tage was gained, and Sindhia who could best support 
 the Pindaris was controlled and neutralised, and was 
 moreover discredited in the eyes of the other Mardtha 
 chiefs ; but force alone held him to his contract ^. 
 Lord Hastings was much elated by the ratification 
 
 * The text of the Treaty of Gwalior is given in Thornton's History 
 of the British Empire in India, and ed., London, 1859, P- 43^-
 
 THE FIND Am WAR 1 15 
 
 of this important treaty, and expresses himself thus 
 in his Private Journal : — 
 
 ' Sindhia subscribes to all the conditions which I dictated, 
 and has swallowed a bitter drench in so doing. I should 
 have thought myself oppressive had he not been so thoroughly 
 false a fellow. The engaging to co-operate in the extirpa- 
 tion of the Pinddris, whom he has fostered — to whom he 
 has phghted protection, and who really have hitherto con- 
 stituted a material part of his strength, — must be deeply 
 mortifying/ 
 
 After explaining the main features of the treaty, 
 he goes on : — 
 
 'Important as those points are, they fall short in that 
 respect of our emancipation from the article in our treaty of 
 1805, by which the British Government had debarred itself of 
 the right of entering into relations with any state over which 
 the Marathds claimed prerogatives. As the Mardthds ad- 
 vanced this pretension with regard to every state of Central 
 India, except Jaipur — this strange gratuitous engagement 
 prevented our forming any confederacy which should check 
 Marathd combinations. Every state, quite to the Indus, 
 has solicited me to take it under British protection ; but 
 I: have, till now, been restricted from meeting the petition. 
 In consequence of the present treaty, I shall immediately 
 fashion this league of the western states, guaranteeing to 
 Sindhia or Holkar any acknowledged dues from those states 
 which prescription has established . . . We are in a fair way 
 of achieving arrangements, which will afford q^uiet and safety 
 to millions who have long been writhing under the scourge 
 of the predatory powers, as well as. under the ferocious 
 cruelty of the Pindaris. I trust that my soul is adequately 
 grateful to the Almighty for allowing me to be the humble 
 
 H2
 
 Il6 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 instrument of a change beneficial to so many of my fellow-' 
 creatures *.' 
 
 The Pindarls under Karim, Chitu, and Wasil 
 Muhammad, (each 7,000 to 8,000 horsemen), well 
 aware that measures were in progress for their ex- 
 tinction, attempted to combine during the summer, 
 and held a meeting in the middle of September, to 
 concert some plan for their common safety; but their 
 counsels were divided and jealousies existed among 
 them, so that they could come to no arrangement for 
 their mutual defence ; moreover, contrary to previous 
 experience, though the native princes were as anxious 
 as ever to give them protection and urged them to 
 resist, they found to their dismay that none of their 
 patrons were bold enough to give an asylum to their 
 families. Considerably depressed, they remained in- 
 active near Bhilsa and to the west of that place, and 
 lived in hopes that the Marathas would declare war 
 and divert from them the danger with which they were 
 threatened. Wasil Muhammad was the first to cast 
 off the lethargy that weighed them down, and early 
 in November made a raid into Bundelkhand, con- 
 triving to evade General Marshall's advance, by moving- 
 round his right flank, and even menaced Banda, 
 when a detachment sent by the Commander-in-Chief 
 from the Central Division forced him to retreat. 
 Meanwhile on the T2th the circle surrounding them 
 
 ' Private Journal, ii. 231. See also Summary of the Administra- 
 tion of the Indian Government (title set forth in full in footnote 
 ante, p. 62, and hereafter quoted for brevity as Summary &c.), p. 19.
 
 THE PINDARt WAR 1 17 
 
 was gradually contracting ; Marshall was on the upper 
 Kana river, where he awaited the advance of the 
 Deccan army and opened up communications with 
 Hoshangabad ; Donkin had pushed up the left bank 
 of the Chambal towards Kotah, leaving Dholpur 
 guarded ; the Central Division watched Gwalior, and 
 the ist, 3rd, and 5th Divisions of the Deccan Ai-my 
 were prepai'ing to cross the Narbada. It was hoped 
 that, about the 2 and, all would be ready to make a 
 simultaneous and general attack upon the position 
 occupied by the Pindaris. 
 
 But this arrangement was partially interrupted by 
 the Peshwa, who rose to arms, and by the Bhonsla 
 Raja, who about the same time manifested signs of 
 unmistakeable hostility. To provide for these events 
 a detachment was immediately despatched towards 
 Nagpur on the 12th, but as the revolt in Poona was 
 much more serious, Sii* T. Hislop adopted other mea- 
 sures in the emergency which had thus arisen. Con- 
 vinced that Asirgarh would not submit, even though 
 ceded by Sindhia by the treaty .of Gwalior, and that 
 its occupation was important in the present juncture, 
 he determined to support the forces which were di- 
 rected upon Poona by retiring with the 1st Division 
 to Burhampur (close to Asirgarh), and ordered up 
 Doveton's battering train to reduce that stronghold. 
 Lord Hastings heard of the revolt in Poona on the 
 14th, and fearing lest operations in Malwa might 
 be dislocated by the news, urgently directed the 
 commander in the Deccan on no account to suspend
 
 ii8 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 his march northwards, but to leave Generals Smith 
 and Pritzler (the 4th and Reserve Deccan Divisions) 
 to deal with the Peshwa. Hislop receiving this order, 
 left Doveton to summon Asirgarh, and, returning to 
 Malwa, re-crossed the Narbada on the and December, 
 with the intention of marching to Ujjain. 
 
 Meanwhile Marshall, Adams, and Malcolm drove 
 the enemy before them, occupying their lands, which 
 were immediately restored to Sindhia or to Bhopal ; 
 no resistance was offered, but the troops were unable 
 to entrap or even attack the bands opposed to them, 
 for they were too quick and in every case made a 
 timely and orderly retreat. The three divisions were 
 now in line, and facing the north-west, and a general 
 advance was ordered, Marshall on the right through 
 Sironj, Adams in the centre, and Malcolm on the left, 
 when it was ascertained that Karim and Wasil Mu- 
 hammad had joiued their forces and were retreating 
 towards Gwalior, while Chitu was moving in a 
 westerly direction to Holkar's territory and towards 
 Jawad, where Jaswant Rao Bhao, one of Sindhia's 
 ofl&cers, had offered him support and protection. 
 
 Upon this, Malcolm turned sharply after Chitu, but 
 this band had disappeared, and he found himself not 
 only in contact with a few mutinous detachments of 
 Sindhia's army but close to Holkar's forces, who about 
 this time joined in the struggle, as will be explained 
 presently. He therefore deemed it wise to delay his 
 advance, and, collecting the scattered columns of his 
 own division, to allow time for the approach of Sir T.
 
 THE FIND Art war 119 
 
 Hislop. The latter was pushing to Ujjain, and the 
 two divisions effected a junction there on the 12th 
 December, the Gujarat corps being meanwhile ordered 
 up to the same place, in order to prevent the Pindaris 
 from retreating southwards through the province of 
 Khandesh, which had been left open by the counter- 
 march of General Smith upon Poona. 
 
 Lord Hastings and the Central Division were left 
 (5th November) on the Sind river, holding Sindhia in 
 check, and ready to intercept the flying Pindaris 
 should they move northwards. An unexpected mis- 
 fortune now occurred. Cholera had been prevalent in 
 Calcutta during the summer of 1817, and having 
 spread along the banks of the Ganges and Jumna, 
 suddenly appeared in a most violent form in the 
 British camp, where raging for ten days, it decimated 
 the ranks and impaired the efliciency of the troops. On 
 the loth a move was made to Erich on the Braitwa 
 river, and the new camp being healthy, the epidemic 
 was partially arrested, and towards the end of the 
 month the embarrassments occasioned to military 
 operations were fortunately lessened. Daulat Rao 
 seizing the opportunity, determined to shake off 
 British control, and offering Karim and Wasil his 
 protection, invited them to join him at Gwalior. The 
 moment was critical ; for, added to Sindhia's hostility, 
 there was Holkar's activity, an uncertainty as to 
 Amir Khan's intentions, and some fear that the Gur- 
 khas might cause trouble. Lord Hastings hearing 
 at this moment of the Peshwa's revolt and of the
 
 I20 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Bhonsla's change of attitude, decided that the northern 
 theatre of war was more important than the southern, 
 and had therefore, as we have seen, directed Sir T. 
 Hislop to continue his march into Malwa and not to 
 allow his attention to be diverted from that quarter. 
 The events just recorded in Gwalior caused the im- 
 mediate return of the Central Division to the Sind 
 river, enfeebled though the troops were by sickness ; 
 at the same time a brigade, previously detached to 
 keep up communications with Marshall's Division, 
 was ordered to cross the river and to intercept the 
 Pindaris, while the force near the Chambal was di- 
 rected to hold the fords at Dholpur. 
 
 On the loth December the Central Division reached 
 the Sind at a point twenty-eight miles from Gwalior 
 and nearer than Sindhia to the passes, already men- 
 tioned, which afforded a communication between that 
 capital and the south. This manoeuvre, very similar 
 to the one adopted a month before, had precisely the 
 same effect ; for it isolated Daulat Rao, destroyed his 
 freedom of action, and held him to his engagements. 
 But more than this, it effectually intercepted the Pin- 
 daris in their flight northwards, who found themselves 
 hemmed in and in doubt which way to turn and effect 
 their escape. In this predicament they turned to the 
 west, in the hope of forcing a passage through the 
 territories of the Eaja of Kotah ; but the latter, resist- 
 ing the invasion, delayed their movements, so that 
 Marshall's division was able to attack and disperse 
 some of their bands. General Donkin also, who had
 
 REVOLT OF THE MARAT HA POWERS 121 
 
 steadily pushed up the left bank oi' the Chambal, 
 crossed that river, and on the 17th headed the Pin- 
 daris, capturing their baggage and Karim's family. 
 Pressed on every side the two chiefs were nearly taken, 
 but, turning to the south with some 4,000 men, they 
 fled as rapidly as possible, and in spite of the efforts 
 of Adams, who harassed them as they passed, they 
 escaped into Holkar's country, dispirited and ex- 
 hausted, reduced in numbers, and having lost all 
 their baggage and goods. 
 
 Thus by the end of 1 81 7 the Pindaris had been driven 
 out of Malwa and beyond the Chambal, but although 
 they were greatly disorganised and weakened by their 
 misfortunes, yet they did at last succeed in baffling 
 their pursuers and in breaking through the circle that 
 surrounded them. Immediate efibrts were made to 
 dislodge them from their new retreat, but before these 
 operations are related, it will be necessary to revert 
 to events that occurred elsewhere in Central India. 
 
 The 4th Deccan Division had scarcely marched 
 away from near Poona to take up the position 
 assigned to it in Khandesh, when Baji Rao, who was 
 raising troops ostensibly to attack the Pindaris, con- 
 centrated as many as 35>ooo men near his capital 
 and refused to send them to the seat of war. This 
 circumstance and others made it apparent to the 
 Resident that a crisis was impending, but unwilling 
 to provoke a quarrel he took no public steps to meet 
 the danger he foresaw, until the ist November, when 
 he moved the British Brigade, left behind at Poona,
 
 122 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 under Colonel Burr, to a defensive position near Kirkl, 
 some three miles from the town. General Smith was 
 also recalled from the north, but it was known that he 
 could not arrive before the loth or 12th, though his 
 advanced troops, pushing on as rapidly as possible, 
 were expected on the 6th ; on the other hand a Euro- 
 pean regiment reached Kirki on the 30th October. 
 The Peshwa determined to strike before the division 
 could return, and sent a messenger on the 5th to Mr. 
 Elphinstone, with demands which could not be com- 
 plied with ; the latter now perceived that his position 
 at Poona was untenable, and immediately after the 
 interview left for Kirki, attended by his personal 
 escort. He was barely in time, for Baji Rao at the 
 head of a body of troops entered the Residency, plun- 
 dered the buildings, set them on fire, and destroyed a 
 large amount of valuable property. Having accom- 
 plished this act of vandalism, the remainder of his 
 troops marched towards Kirki and determined to storm 
 the British position. But the latter were in no mood 
 to await the assault ; for the Resident, knowing that 
 the fidelity of many of the men had been undermined, 
 decided that defensive tactics were useless, and urging 
 Burr to move forward to meet the enemy, the latter 
 responded willingly to this requisition, and gallantly 
 advanced to the attack ^. 
 
 A spirited action took place between 2,800 British 
 troops and about 26,000 Marathas, lasting from four 
 in the afternoon till dark, when the Peshwa's forces 
 
 ' Blacker, p. 69.
 
 REVOLT OF THE MARAT HA POWERS ll'i, 
 
 making no impression upon their opponents, fell back 
 upon Poona, leaving 500 men on the field ; the same 
 evening the British forces returned to Kirki with 
 a loss of only 86 men, and there they awaited General 
 Smith, who having been delayed by the enemy's 
 cavalry, arrived before Poona on the 13th. Mean- 
 while the Peshwa not venturing again to attack the 
 gallant little brigade whose valour and discipline 
 had frustrated all his plans, left it unmolested and 
 wreaked his vengeance by committing acts of savage 
 cruelty upon such British officers who ignorant of the 
 revolt came within his grasp ^ 
 
 A junction being effected between the 4th Division 
 and the Brigade, the combined forces marched upon 
 Poona, and on the 16th the left wing under Colonel 
 Milnes crossed the river which guarded the town, at 
 the Yellura ford, in the face of the enemy, who, 
 notwithstanding all their efforts, were unable to resist 
 the passage ; early next morning the rest of the 
 troops crossed higher up the river, but they found 
 to their immense regret that the Marathas had aban- 
 doned all their posts and had fled to the south. Poona 
 was at once occupied and the pursuit begun, but the 
 Peshwa was too quick, and, beyond capturing a 
 considerable portion of his artillery and ammunition, 
 no further success was achieved. Arrangements had 
 now to be made for the military security of Poona 
 and its neighbourhood, and for a further advance 
 
 ^ Blacker, p. 65, &c. ; Captain Grant Duff's History of the Mdrdthas, 
 3 vols., Bombay, 1863, iii. 297, &c.
 
 124 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 against the enemy, who, having unfortunately had 
 time to elude the British army, could not be pursued 
 until the 2ist. 
 
 The Peshwa first retired to the neighbourhood of 
 Satara, and carried off the representative of Sivaji's 
 family, the Raja of that place, a prince he justly 
 feared at this crisis in his affairs as a dangerous 
 rival to his throne^. His resources were slender 
 in the isolated districts bordering upon Mysore, but 
 in Khandesh his adherents were arming, and there he 
 hoped to gain support fit'om the other Maratha chiefs ; 
 hearing, moreover, that Pritzler (Deccan Reserve 
 Division) was advancing from the south, he marched 
 rapidly to Pandharpur, and, doubling round to the 
 north, he succeeded in evading Smith's pursuit, and 
 made for Wattur, on the direct road to Nasik, having 
 passed between Poona and Siriir. At Wattur he 
 was joined by his confederate Trimbakji. Smith at 
 once turned after him and reached Sirur on the 22nd 
 December; from that place he gained rapidly upon 
 the fugitive, and not only headed him, but hemmed 
 him close to the hiUy country where his cavahy 
 could move with difiiculty. Baji Rao was now 
 
 " The Peshwas, though acknowledged suzerains of the Marathas, 
 were not of the family of Sivaji, the founder of their Empire. They 
 were descended from Balaji Vishwanath, the minister or Peshicd of 
 Sahu grandson of Sivaji (who lived early in the eighteenth century), 
 and practically ruler under that feeble prince. The office becoming 
 hereditary, the Peshwas governed at Poona and formed the 
 Maratha confederacy : while the descendants of Sivaji degenerated 
 into insignificant princes at Satara and Kohapur. Bilji Rao was 
 the seventh Peshwa. See Hunter's Indian Empire, ed. 1882, p. 261 &c.
 
 REVOLT OF THE MARATHA POWERS 125 
 
 obliged again to go southwards, and towards the 
 end of the year he was on the direct road to Poona ; 
 here we will leave him for the present, and turn to 
 Nagpur, where events similar to those enacted at 
 Poona were taking place. 
 
 Ap^ Sahib's attitude towards the Supreme Govern- 
 ment continually fluctuated, and he followed with 
 almost slavish precision the example set by the ruler 
 of Poona ; when the Peshwa became hostile, the 
 Bhonsla was sure to manifest impatience at British 
 control, and when the former was reduced to obedience, 
 he invariably assumed a peaceable demeanour. Apa 
 Sahib was in short a typical Maratha prince ; he 
 desired to use British power to attain his own ends, 
 but, discontented with the restraints it imposed, he 
 determined to throw off the yoke it laid upon his 
 rule, and, while lacking the necessary personal courage 
 to effect this object, he employed thereto the arts of 
 duplicity in which he excelled. It was therefore to 
 be expected that as soon as the revolt of Eaji Rao 
 became known, there would be a crisis at Nagpur. 
 
 In this instance however, the defeat of the Marathas 
 at Kirki, and the occupation of Poona, as well as 
 Sindhia's difficulties, did not seem to produce any 
 change in his hostility, for, on pretence of massing 
 troops against the Pindaris, he also assumed so 
 threatening an attitude that Mr. Jenkins, the Resident, 
 was obliged to post the British force, left near Nagpur, 
 on a position on the Sitabaldi hills, where it could 
 defend the Residency. Hardly was this step taken
 
 126 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 than the Bhonsla's army fired upon this position 
 with such effect during the night of the 26th-27th 
 November, that severe loss was incurred. A slight 
 intermission in the attack now took place, but early 
 the following morning the position was assailed in 
 earnest by nearly 20,000 men, and defended by a 
 mere handful of some 1,400 troops, who had no 
 means or opportunity to strengthen the heights they 
 held. The Maratha army contained some 4,000 Arabs 
 who fought with great ardour ; they soon carried one 
 of the hills, and, turning their guns upon the main 
 part of the British defences, they endeavoured to take 
 it by storm, while the remainder of the enemy's 
 forces were advancing to their support. The fortunes 
 of the day seemed desperate, and the battle was all 
 but lost, when three troops of Bengal cavalry, under 
 Captain Fitzgerald, were seen to charge upon the 
 Maratha horse, and, quickly dispersing them in every 
 direction, they captured some guns, and spread terror 
 and confusion among the enemy's ranks : at this 
 moment, too, the British sepoys, elated at the daring 
 exploit, and seizing the opportunity when panic had 
 disorganised the Arabs, charged with new-born enthu- 
 siasm, and retook the post which they had previously 
 lost. These successes ended the battle, for the Ma- 
 rathas, now losing all their former courage, yielded at 
 all points, and were driven back with disgrace; at 
 noon the day was won, and the danger over. 
 
 The losses of the contending armies were about the 
 same, but the proportion of those of the enemy could
 
 REVOLT OF THE MARATHA POWERS 127 
 
 not compare with the numbers who fell on the British 
 side, amounting on that eventful occasion to a fifth of 
 the whole force; yet the Marathas were dejected and 
 disorganised by their failure, and, refusing to attack 
 again, time was given for fresh troops to arrive and 
 relieve the sorely pressed defenders from the serious 
 embarrassments that surrounded them. Reinforce- 
 ments soon reached them, from Hoshangabad and 
 elsewhere, and, on the 15th December, the greater 
 part of Doveton's (2nd Deccan) Division, having 
 given up all thoughts of reducing Aslrgarh in the 
 present emergency, marched into camp, and enabled 
 Mr. Jenkins to impose his own terms upon the 
 rebellious Edja. The Bhonsla's personal surrender 
 was effected without delay; but the disbandment of 
 his army and the surrender of his artillery being 
 resisted, it became necessaiy to enforce both these 
 demands by arms ; this was successfuEy accomplished 
 on the 1 6th, when the Marathas were routed and 
 dispersed, and all their guns, stores, and elephants 
 captured. The Arabs however fled into the town, 
 and, holding the citadel, they even repulsed an 
 attempt to take the place by storm, but eventually 
 they voluntarily surrendered on honourable con- 
 ditions, and were escorted to Khandesh, where they 
 were set free to go where they liked, except to 
 Asirgarh. 
 
 These successes were completed by others which 
 were gained elsewhere in the Bhonsla's dominions, 
 where partial revolts had taken place, and the
 
 128 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Resident was now able to regulate more permanent 
 relations with Nagpur. Lord Hastings, on hearing 
 of the events which have been described, decided 
 that Apa Sahib had forfeited his throne, and ordered 
 his immediate deposition ; the sequel of that prince's 
 career proves the wisdom of this decision, but these 
 instructions were delayed, and Mr. Jenkins had 
 meanwhile already offered terms by which the Bhonsla 
 was allowed to retain a nominal sovereignty ; he was 
 therefore obliged to adhere provisionally to his pro- 
 posals, pending further communications from Govern- 
 ment, and on the 6th January a draft treaty was 
 signed, approved of subsequently by the Governor- 
 General, by which the Bhonsla ceded Berar and terri- 
 tory near the Narbada, and consented to rule for 
 the future through ministers to be selected by the 
 Resident; he surrendered all military power, pro- 
 mising to give up his forts should they bo demanded, 
 and accepting a British garrison in his own capital. 
 
 The course of affairs in the Deccan, in spite of 
 dangers and treachery, had been satisfactory ; it was 
 not less so in the north. Amir Khan proved easier to 
 deal with than had been at first imagined, and, as he 
 was one of the principal leaders of the predatory 
 system, the event was of considerable importance. 
 Perceiving how easily Sindhia had been coerced, he 
 allowed his envoy at Delhi to sign, 9th November, 
 a treaty on the conditions which have akeady been 
 described, and its ratification was expected in a 
 month. Meanwhile the revolt in the Deccan had
 
 REVOLT OF THE MARAthA POWERS 1 29 
 
 occurred, and for a time it was uncertain whether 
 he would abide by the treaty or not, more especially 
 since his Sirdars bitterly resented the stipulation 
 which cut them adrift without sufficient compensation. 
 But the successes at Poona and Nagpur, his own in- 
 clinations, and his position between General Donkin 
 on the Chambal and Sir D. Ochterlony (who advanced 
 from Rewari to the south of Jaipur), contributed to 
 bring about an amicable settlement, and the treaty 
 was definitely accepted on the 19th of December. 
 Thenceforward Amir Khan proved himself a peace- 
 able ally, and the Pindaris lost his support just 
 when they most required it. Ochterlony remained in 
 the vicinity and, placing himself skilfully between 
 the two principal divisions of the Pathan forces, he 
 effected the disarmament of the greater portion of this 
 army in January and February without the necessity 
 of striking a blow ; the artillery was surrendered, and 
 some of the best troops were drafted temporarily into 
 the British service, where they found employment 
 congenial to their restless dispositions. The last body 
 of these mercenary bands was disbanded in March. 
 
 It has also been mentioned that Lord Hastings 
 approached Holkar's court. No answer was received 
 till the T5th November, when the regent, Tulsi Bai 
 (widow of the late Holkar), offered to put herself and 
 the young prince under British protection. No one 
 was deceived by those overtures, which seemed to 
 present little chance of leading to any satisfactory 
 result, but General Donkin was nevertheless directed 
 
 I
 
 13© LORD HASTINGS 
 
 to give eflfect to the negotiations should they prove 
 successful. The Peshwa's defection however, on be- 
 coming known, produced its inevitable result, and 
 Holkar's troops, exhibiting the greatest enthusiasm in 
 Baji Rao's cause, and hoping to obtain their arrears of 
 pay through his bounty, began to move southwards to 
 his aid, when they were met by the Pindari Chitu, 
 closely pursued by Sir J. Malcolm. The movement of 
 the latter upon Ujjain, and his junction with Sir T. 
 Hislop, 1 2th December, have already been noticed ; 
 after which the two British divisions advanced to a 
 point near Mehidpur, where Holkar lay with his army. 
 Attempts to enter into negotiations with him failed ; his 
 followers, divided among themselves, and torn by fac- 
 tion, would listen to no accommodation, and, on the 2oth 
 December, they combined under the leadership of the 
 Pathan, Gafur Khan, to seize and murder the Bai, whom 
 they suspected of being favourable to a British alliance. 
 Hostilities were now inevitable, and Hislop, finding 
 peace impossible, determined to attack a troublesome 
 and disorderly army, whose conduct resembled more 
 that of a band of plunderers than the operations of 
 the forces of a responsible state. On the aist he 
 advanced to Mehidpur, where the enemy were found 
 strongly posted in two lines on the Sipra river. Cross- 
 ing a ford in front of the position, he assaulted itfwith 
 his divisions, and, though the enemy's artillery was 
 well served and did considerable execution, their flanks 
 were soon crushed, and the whole army put to irre- 
 trievable flight. Their losses amounted to 3,000 men,
 
 REVOLT OF THE MARAthA POWERS 131 
 
 and their camp, military stores, and seventy guns 
 fell into the bands of the victors, whose casualties 
 however were as much as 800 men. Malcolm was 
 now sent in pursuit, and followed Holkar in a north- 
 westerly direction towards Mandesar. 
 
 The Gujarat Division ought to have been present at 
 the battle, but its progress to Ujjainhad been delayed by 
 the Bombay government, who feared that the troubles 
 at Poona might extend to Baroda. Lord Hastings how- 
 ever did not share this apprehension, and disapproving 
 of this unnecessary diversion of a strong column at a 
 critical moment, ordered its immediate return to the 
 east, and a junction with Hislop was effected on the 
 30th. But before Mandesar was reached, Holkar had 
 already, 6th January, accepted a subsidiary treaty, and 
 had consented to give up his claims in Rajputana and 
 elsewhere which had occasioned past disorders ; Gafur 
 Khan also, urged thereto by Amir Khan, gave up his 
 career as a leader of mercenaries, and was granted 
 possession of a territorial fief, before it was known 
 that he was concerned in the murder of Tulsi Bai. 
 
 Scattered portions of Holkar's army escaped pur- 
 suit, and some of them were dispersed in January; 
 the remainder took part later in operations against 
 the British ; but the transactions just described 
 settled once for all the disorders which prevailed in 
 the Indore state ever since 1808; the government 
 was reformed and reconstructed on a more solid 
 foundation, and thereafter it ceased to be a menace to 
 public tranquillity. 
 
 I 2
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 The final overthrow of the Maratha Powers 
 1818-19 
 
 The new year opened with bright prospects, for in 
 the short space of the few weeks during which the cam- 
 paign had lasted, no reverses had been experienced, 
 and many advantages had been gained. The Pindaris, 
 driven from their haunts in the valley of the Narbada, 
 sought a precarious refuge on the left bank of the 
 Chambal, and were deprived of the assistance of their 
 principal allies ; for Holkar was defeated and Amir 
 Khan disarmed ; even Sindhia was powerless to help 
 them, and his Sirdars could only afford them a feeble 
 protection in the outlying province of Mewar. In the 
 Deccan also, the formidable insurrections of the Peshwa 
 and of the Bhonsla Raja had been dealt with promptly; 
 the former lost his capital and was a fugitive in his 
 own dominions, while the latter was reduced to a 
 position of mere nominal sovereignty in Nagpur. 
 
 The array of forces employed to achieve these 
 results was imposing beyond all former precedent, but 
 the duties to be fulfilled were proportionately onerous 
 and important, and Lord Hastings, who left nothing
 
 O VERTHRO W OF THE MARA THA PO WERS 1 33 
 
 to chance, determined to be ready for every contin- 
 gency that might arise. The Maratha chiefs had been 
 long endeavouring to take advantage of the weakness 
 displayed in 1805, and their schemes were ripe for 
 execution in 1817; a formidable and — as far as an- 
 archical principles would admit of it — a concerted 
 rising was prepared to accomplish this object. The 
 Supreme Government therefore had many enemies to 
 face, and the events just related show how dangerous 
 it would have been to attempt the destruction of the 
 Pindaris unless large measures of defence had also 
 been adopted, and simultaneous action planned in 
 many distant quarters. The success of the military 
 movements, the timely concentration of large bodies 
 of troops marching from divergent bases, and the 
 subsequent dispositions made to meet the numerous 
 requirements of a complicated campaign, prove the 
 care bestowed on the preliminary arrangements, and 
 exhibit the watchful intelligence of the Commander- 
 in-Chief, who directed every detail of the operations 
 in the field, and guided all the negotiations in the 
 political sphere. 
 
 But in spite of the large number of forces deployed, 
 grave risks were also incurred, and twice in the 
 course of a short campaign were small corps, posted 
 at vulnerable points and guarding important interests, 
 exposed to almost certain destruction at the hands of 
 overwhelming masses of the enemy. Disaster had 
 been fortunately avoided by the bravery and disci- 
 pline of the weak brigades at Poona and Nagpur, and
 
 134 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 it was due to the efficiency of the English officers who 
 led the natives into action that the battles of Kirki 
 and the Sitabaldl hills had not been lost. It was im- 
 possible to calculate beforehand upon these victories ; 
 but the British sepoys, having imbibed habits of mili- 
 tary discipline, rallied round their leaders and with- 
 stood the onslaught of the enemy, who as a mob were 
 subject to panic and became demoralised by the first 
 reverse. Hence was success achieved under the most 
 unpromising circumstances ; and the brilliant result 
 enhanced the prestige of the power of England and 
 the fame of her valour, and carrying dejection among 
 the Maratha princes, impressed them with the in- 
 vincible character of the opponents against whom 
 they contended. Yet much remained to be accom- 
 plished. The predatory system was not eradicated, 
 and many of its upholders were still in arms ; time 
 had been given to Baji Rao to escape from the 4th 
 Deccan Division, and he gathered sufficient power to 
 maintain the struggle he began ; and, lastly, Apa 
 Sahib had not been deposed, and latitude enough was 
 conceded to him to continue the conspiracy in which 
 he had embarked. 
 
 When the Pindaris were forced into Mewar, General 
 Marshall (Left Division) was ordered back to Sironj, 
 to settle the lands they evacuated, and to prevent their 
 return to their old haunts ; Adams marched to Gun- 
 grar and Donkin to Shahpura, to guard the districts 
 in the east and north respectively ; a lightly equipped 
 column, composed of troops drawn from the Left and
 
 O VERTHRO W OF THE MARAthA PO WERS 135 
 
 Central Hindustan Divisions, and placed under the 
 command of General Brown, was also pushed to the 
 south of Kotah, and in communication with Adams ; 
 the battle of Mehidpur had moreover rendered the 
 ist, 3rd, and Gujarat Divisions available to act against 
 the Pindaris from the south. All these forces were to 
 close in as had been done before, and to hunt the free- 
 booters from their new retreat. 
 
 As there was now no fear that any considerable 
 force could attack small detachments, the pursuit was 
 carried on by numerous light columns unencumbered 
 by heavy artillery; but the rapidity of the enemy, 
 the difficulties of movement and supply in a rugged 
 and little-known district, the support clandestinely 
 given by native chiefs, and the obstacles thrown in 
 the way of procuring correct information, rendered 
 the service peculiarly arduous and harassing to the 
 troops engaged, and frequently frustrated the plans 
 of the commanders. The operations, however, served 
 in a great measure to pacify the country so traversed, 
 and in this manner Sindhia's officer Jaswant Rao Bhao 
 who commanded at Jawad was reduced to order, and 
 punished for harbouring the freebooters. Meanwhile 
 the three Pindari bands ffiiding no shelter in Mewar, 
 determined to retrace their steps and to return to 
 Malwd, by circuitous routes. Chitu was by far the 
 most capable leader, and had lost less than Karim or 
 Wasil in the first operations ; he succeeded in baffling 
 pursuit with the small loss of part only of his baggage, 
 in spite of the strenuous efforts of Sir W. Keir (Gujarat
 
 136 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Division) to capture him, and reached a point near Han- 
 dia ; but his good fortune soon deserted him, for his 
 approach was discovered, and a detachment from that 
 station came up in time and dispersed his band. Nor 
 were Karim andWasil able to escape, for on the 1 3th they 
 were completely surprised and destroyed by Adams. 
 
 Towards the end of January, then, all the organised 
 bodies of Pindaris were annihilated, and judging that 
 it was time to offer the few scattered remnants some 
 inducement to return to a peaceable manner of 
 existence, they were now invited to submit by a message 
 sent them through the Nawab of Bhopal, and were 
 promised a settlement on lands remotely situated from 
 the scenes of their former depredations. Karim 
 quickly responded, and obtained lands in Gorakhpur, 
 where he remained with his family and followers, 
 numbering six hundred persons ^. His example was 
 followed by many others ; but Wasil fl3nLng to Sindhia 
 remained at large, until that prince was obliged to 
 surrender him, and he was then made a prisoner ; he 
 was detained at Ghazipur, but some months afterwards 
 on attempting to escape he failed to get away, and 
 committed suicide. Chitu became a wanderer and 
 was deserted by the best part of his band, but he 
 disdained to surrender, and made his way to the 
 Deccan, where he joined the remnants of the Marath^ 
 forces that still maintained themselves in the field. 
 A year later he met with a terrible fate ; on being 
 refused admittance into Asirgarh, he went alone into 
 * Wilson, viii. 297.
 
 OVERTHROW OF THE MARATHA POWERS 1 37 
 
 the jungle much infested by tigers, and disappeared ; 
 a few days later his horse was found browsing near 
 the forest, and, on a search being made, his head was 
 discovered and his face recognised, and, near by, some 
 traces of his mangled remains left no doubt that the 
 miserable man had been devoured by a tiger. 
 
 Affairs in the northern part of Central India being 
 now nearly settled, new military dispositions were 
 made (2nd February) by Lord Hastings, to suit the 
 altered circumstances of the war. Donkin's force (the 
 Central Division), and the two corps of observation in 
 the East were broken up and marched back to their 
 peace quarters; but troops were still kept between 
 Bundelkhand and Etdwah to hold Sindhia in check 
 until the final settlement should be made in that 
 state. Sir D. Ochterlony was left in Rajputana. 
 Marshall's division was reinforced and ordered to 
 take possession of the territories ceded by Ap^ Sahib 
 near the Narbada ; this General, moreover, annexed 
 the principality of Sagar, where the Raja, on account 
 of his persistent hostility and defiant disregard of 
 treaties, had been condemned by the Governor-General 
 to lose his fief ; operations in this quarter lasted until 
 the end of April. The Maratha princes were by 
 this time isolated, and no further reunion on a for- 
 midable scale was possible among them ; the moment 
 had therefore arrived when those that still remained 
 in arms could be more easily pacified by the local 
 civil and military authorities, under control and 
 directions from Calcutta ; and the necessity for unity
 
 138 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 of command having ceased in the Deccan, the Southern 
 Army was dissolved. 
 
 The divisions under Generals Keir, Doveton, Smith, 
 and Adams were constituted out of the subsidiary forces 
 stationed in Gujarat, Haidarabad, Poona^ and Nagpur, 
 respectively, and the intention was to send these troops 
 back to their proper stations as soon as circumstances 
 would permit. To this end, part of the Gujarat corps 
 was marched towards Baroda ; but Doveton was 
 ordered to Khandesh ; and Adams was retained north 
 of the Narbada for a short time, and was occupied in 
 receiving the submission of the Pindaris, and in taking 
 possession of the districts that were ceded. The ist 
 Deccan Division also proceeded to Khandesh, and, on 
 the way, reduced some forts which were held by 
 Holkar's commanders in defiance of the treaty of 
 Mandesar. The 3rd Deccan Division, under Malcolm, 
 was kept in Holkar's dominions north of the Narbada, 
 in order to pacify that district and introduce a stable 
 form of government there ; this force, moreover, re- 
 duced the district of Soandwara, lying east of the 
 Chambal and north of Ujjain, where the marauding 
 spirit still survived. Holkar's troops were employed 
 and rendered good service upon this occasion, and the 
 fact afforded satisfactory proof that the system adopted 
 by Lord Hastings in his deahngs with the Maratha 
 chiefs was likely to be successful. 
 
 The only point of importance left unprovided for 
 by the dispositions, just described, was the reduction 
 of the fort of Asirgarh, held by one of Sindhia's
 
 O VERTHRO W OF THE MARATHA PO WERS 1 39 
 
 Killadars (Commandants) ; at one time it was pro- 
 posed to undertake the task at once, but it was 
 deferred. The subjugation of Khandesh, a province 
 full of strongholds, and inhabited by warlike Ai-ab 
 colonies, was a more pressing necessity, since it af- 
 forded support to the Peshwa, whose submission was 
 of the utmost importance. It is now time to turn 
 to the operations directed against that prince. 
 
 Bdji Rao, having been foiled in his attempt to 
 penetrate into Khandesh, was left north of Poona 
 apparently in full march upon his capital. Colonel 
 Burr, the commandant, fearing lest this was a de- 
 liberate intention to raise a storm in a turbulent city 
 only lately occupied and imperfectly subdued, sent 
 to Siriir for reinforcements. Thereupon Captain 
 Staunton was ordered to march without delay to 
 Poona at the head of 500 infantry, 250 cavalry, and 
 two guns, and left camp at eight in the evening on 
 the 31st December. Next morning when about half 
 way he unexpectedly found himself intercepted by 
 the whole of the Peshwa's army, numbering 30,000 
 horse, and 8,000 foot (of whom nearly half were 
 Arabs — troops far more formidable than the ordinary 
 natives). There was, no possibility of getting away 
 from these hostile masses, and Staunton, avoiding 
 the plain, had barely time to push to the village of 
 Koregdon to seek a precarious shelter in the danger 
 that threatened him. In this effort he was only 
 partially successful, for the Arabs, perceiving his 
 object, advanced to the village, and occupying some
 
 I40 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 of the best positions it afforded, resisted successfully 
 all attempts to dislodge them. 
 
 The little force took up the most favourable line they 
 could find among the buildings they had fortunately 
 seized ; but they had been marching all night without 
 food or refreshment, and to add to their embaiTass- 
 ments there was no water to be procured. Cooped 
 up in this miserable position, exhausted by fatigue 
 and want, they engaged in the desperate struggle 
 that now awaited them. The enemy luckily was very 
 weak in artillery, and his cavalry was unable to join 
 in the action, but there was sufficient infantry at 
 hand, and these surged forward in dense masses, wave 
 following wave against the devoted band that resisted 
 their fury. The British officers headed repeated 
 sallies, and gallantly maintained their ground until 
 night-fall, when a gun was captured, and the situa- 
 tion became terribly alarming. The Arabs now 
 thinking they had carried the whole position, began 
 to murder the wounded, and became demoralised ; 
 a last counter-attack was then made with such vigour 
 upon the disorganised rabble, that the gun was re- 
 taken and the enemy driven back with much slaughter. 
 The crisis past, the Marathas as usual got discouraged, 
 and after nine hours' fighting they retired out of the 
 village, which Staunton immediately occupied. 
 
 The night was passed in the greatest anxiety, and 
 a renewal of the attack was expected ; but the Peshwa 
 showed no signs of doing so, and he was seen to 
 move towards the south. Staunton, cut off from
 
 O VERTHRO W OF THE MARAtHA PO WERS 1 41 
 
 Poona, determined to return to camp, and the better 
 to deceive the enemy, gave out that he meant to con- 
 tinue his march to his original destination ; there- 
 upon the Maratha horse made ready to fall upon him 
 in the plains, but they got no such satisfaction, for 
 when it was dark he retreated quietly to Sirur, where 
 he arrived on the morning of the 3rd, with his guns 
 and his wounded, ' drums beating and colours flying.' 
 
 This brilliant defence added one more exploit to 
 the long roll of British military achievements in 
 India, where want of numbers was compensated by 
 coolness in judgment and bravery in a desperate hour 
 of peril ; but it was dearly purchased, for although 
 the defendei*s inflicted a loss upon the Marathas of 
 nearly 700 men, yet out of eight British ofiicers (in- 
 cluding two surgeons) there were five killed and 
 wounded, and of a force of barely 800 men, more than 
 a thii'd, 271, were reckoned among the casualties upon 
 that memorable occasion ^. 
 
 Smith reached the scene of the action on the 3rd, 
 and followed the Peshwa on the 8th, who, having 
 again passed close to Poona, pushed to the south, 
 where he fell in with Pritzler. The latter now took 
 up the chasCj and pursued the enemy towards Gokak, 
 but General Munro having hastily collected a small 
 force to guard the line of the Gatpurba river, Baji 
 Rao, too faint-hearted to fight, was obliged to turn 
 in another direction. Moving rapidly, he now doubled 
 
 ^ Blacker, p. 179. In Appendix I of this work, p. 457, will be 
 found Captain Staunton's modest report of his gallant action.
 
 143 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 again, and shaking himself clear of Smith and Pritzler, 
 who were both at his heels, he got to Sholapur by the 
 end of January, not much the worse for his hurried 
 flight, and having only lost a small part of his troops 
 in rear-guard skirmishes. Here he was joined by 
 the broken bands of Apa Sahib's horse, who after 
 their defeat at Nagpur marched across the Nizam's 
 dominions and reached the Peshwa in safety. 
 
 The plan hitherto adopted by the British com- 
 manders had been unprofitable. Encumbered with 
 long trains of baggage, supplies, and guns, they 
 imposed great fatigue upon their troops by arduous 
 marches, and failed to reach an active enemy who 
 was everywhere at home in his dominions, and who 
 moved with little to arrest his progress^. It was 
 therefore determined, on the suggestion of Mr. Elphin- 
 stone, to proceed on a more rational principle ; the 
 two divisions were accordingly brought together, and 
 a lightly equipped column was formed therefrom, 
 prepared to make rapid marches, while the remainder 
 was constituted into a force destined to undertake the 
 reduction of the numerous strongholds that studded 
 the south-west of India, and to bring about the regu- 
 lar military occupation of the country. Waiting till 
 Pritzler should join him, Smith summoned Satdra, 
 which surrendered on the nth February. 
 
 ^ The pursuit entailed severe marches. The 4th Deccan Division 
 covered 300 miles between the 22nd November and the 17th 
 December (26 days) ; the Reserve, 346 miles between the 3rd and 
 27th January (25 days). — Blacker, p. 177, 190 and 283.
 
 OVERTHROW OF THE MARATHA POWERS 143 
 
 Meanwhile Lord Hastings had come to a decision 
 of no small importance to the future history of British 
 India, which materially contributed to the final paci- 
 fication of the territories so long misgoverned by the 
 Peshwa. Elphinstone having reported Baji Rao's 
 defection in November, made two propositions on the 
 policy to be followed when that prince should be 
 subdued ; one, his reinstatement as nominal ruler with 
 reduced authority, and the other, his deposition and 
 the elevation of a member of his family to the Masnad 
 in his stead. Lord Hastings rejected both these alter- 
 natives, and came to the conclusion, in December, that 
 the office and authority of the Peshwa were to be 
 abolished and his territories annexed to the Com- 
 pany's possessions. 
 
 He was urged to this decision by many considera- 
 tions. Bajl Rao had for several years evinced a spirit 
 of inveterate hostility which no treaty could repress 
 nor moderation conciliate ; a secret and redoubtable 
 power belonged to the recognised chief of the Maratha 
 confederacy, placing him in a position which was at 
 once a menace to British interests and a rallying- 
 point to the discontented. Nor did this authority 
 depend upon the extent of territory he ruled, for it 
 originated in the office he held as Peshw^, and as 
 long as he retained it, little hope remained for a 
 permanent settlement in his dominions or where his 
 suzerainty was acknowledged. It was obviously im- 
 possible to curtail this influence by treaties or by 
 force, so too would it be futile to transfer it to any
 
 144 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 prince of the Peshwd's family. The only permanent 
 solution was to uproot a dangerous growth altogether 
 from Maratha soil ; and such a step, while it would 
 avert future difficulties, would also serve as a whole- 
 some object-lesson of British power, and show what 
 minor chiefs might expect when their foremost prince 
 had not been spared. 
 
 It was further decided to set up a new head for the 
 Maratha nation, and the ruler selected for this dignity 
 was the representative of Sivaji, Nur Narayan, Raja 
 of Satara. His new position was to be maintained 
 by a respectable principality, but his independence 
 was to be limited and his ambition restrained by 
 suitable checks. It was hoped that by the resuscita- 
 tion of old traditions in a safe form, the natives 
 would be conciliated, and the name of the Peshwa 
 forgotten, and that the descendant of the founder o£ 
 the Maratha empire would be as useful to Biitish 
 security in the south of India as the Mughal Emperor 
 had been in the north. 
 
 This policy was published in a proclamation issued 
 by Elphinstone upon the fall of Satara^, who was 
 appointed Commissioner to carry it into execution 
 and was vested with large discretionary powers as 
 to details. The Peshwa was thus deposed and de- 
 clared an outlaw; but he was still at large and in 
 arms, he had hitherto baffled pursuit, and, more im- 
 portant than all, he retained as prisoner in his camp 
 
 * A translation of this Proclamation issued in the Marathi 
 language is to be found in Blacker, Appendix 0, p. 462.
 
 OVERTHROW OF THE MARATHA POWERS 145 
 
 the very prince who formed such an important factor in 
 the new arrangements which the Governor-General 
 had determined to adopt. 
 
 Fortune, however, soon placed the Edja of Satara 
 in British hands. General Smith tracked Baji Rao 
 with a light column, and having fortunately come 
 upon him unexpectedly at Ashti, on the 20th, he 
 immediately attacked him with a body of horse. The 
 Peshwa, as usual when danger was near, consulted 
 his personal safety by galloping off from the field, 
 and left his general, Gokla, to cover his retreat and 
 the removal of the baggage. A sharp cavalry action 
 ensued, in which the enemy was not only put to 
 flight and his camp taken, but Gokla was killed and 
 Nur Narayan recovered. This reverse was a serious 
 blow to the fugitive, and many of his adherents 
 wavered in their allegiance and deserted his standard ; 
 but next to the loss of the Satara Raja, the death of his 
 general was the worst disaster he experienced. Gokla 
 had been a firm supporter of British interests in the 
 past, and had done good service in the second Maratha 
 war at the beginning of the century ; he was deeply 
 indebted to the Supreme Government not only for 
 his position at the Peshwa' s court, but also for his 
 life and possessions, frequently threatened by that 
 capricious prince ; by the latter, indeed, he had been 
 treated with the most degrading contumely, but never- 
 theless he became in the end his devoted follower 
 and ardent defender. By his death, Bdji Rao lost an 
 enterprising and energetic military leader, and was 
 
 K
 
 146 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 obliged afterwards to conduct his own military opera- 
 tions, as on no one else could he place any reliance^. 
 
 He now directed his steps northwards to Khandesh, 
 receiving near Nasik the remnants of Holkar's forces 
 and some few Pindaris, who having been defeated 
 escaped pursuit ; he was making for Burhampur, in 
 the hopes of reaching Sindhia, when he heard of the 
 approach of Sir T. Hislop ; thereupon he turned south, 
 but, afraid of meeting Smith's division, he again 
 altered his course and marched to the east (middle of 
 March), in order to join the Bhonsla Eaja, whose 
 subjects were represented to him as ripe for insur- 
 rection, and whose territories would therefore offer 
 the best asylum in his present distress. This deter- 
 mination was brought about by affairs at Nagpur, 
 and to these we must now briefly refer. 
 
 Apa Sahib was no sooner restored to liberty early 
 in January, as has already been recorded, than he 
 sought for means to throw off the yoke which his 
 pei"fidy had imposed upon him. His power of di- 
 recting secret hostilities was still considerable, despite 
 the diminution of his public authority, and it was 
 soon ascertained that an Arab force was being col- 
 lected at Chanda, and a depot established there, for 
 future operations against the British Government : 
 added to this, he treacherously ordered his feudatories 
 and Killadars to prosecute the war which he had en- 
 gaged to relinquish, and to hold the forts which he had 
 bound himself to surrender. Evidence of his duplicity 
 
 ^ Prinsep, ii. 183.
 
 O VERTHRO W OF THE MARAthA PO WERS 1 4 7 
 
 and unalterable hostility did not fail, and the danger 
 it gave rise to was increased by the reports that Baji 
 Rao had left his own dominions and was marching 
 at the head of a strong army to Chanda to effect a 
 junction with the scattered fragments of the Bhonsla's 
 forces. There was every intention of carrying the 
 war into Nagpur, and Mr. Jenkins, who had early 
 applied to Lord Hastings for instructions, resolved 
 that it would be imprudent to wait any longer, and 
 acting upon his own responsibility he made Apa Sahib 
 a prisoner, and lodged him for safe custody in the 
 Residency, until the Governor- General should decide 
 upon his future treatment (15th March). 
 
 General Smith, who had only delayed in the south 
 to conduct Nur Narayan to Satara, there to receive 
 investiture from the Supreme Government at the hands 
 of the Commissioner, marched to the north, and 
 halting for a short time at Sirur, left that place on the 
 loth March. Shortly afterwards, he heard of Baji 
 Rao's eastward march, and concerting a plan of pur- 
 suit with Doveton, the two divisions followed, the 
 latter taking a northerly route to prevent an irruption 
 into Hindustan, the former moving along the Godavari 
 river to anticipate any attempt in the direction of 
 Haidarabad. About the same time Sir T. Hislop, 
 preparing to give up his command in the Deccan 
 according to the orders abeady referred to, the division 
 he commanded was broken up and incorporated with 
 the forces operating against the enemy. At the 
 beginning of April, Baji Rao, who had marched un- 
 
 K a
 
 148 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 opposed towards Chanda with the utmost speed, 
 wasting the Nizam's territory as he passed along, was 
 heard of on the Wardha river not far from its con- 
 fluence with the Penganga, where he hoped to receive 
 support from the Bhonsla, and some alleviation of the 
 fate that gave him no rest. But a great disappoint- 
 ment was in store for him, and instead of finding Apa 
 Sahib ready to join him, he was again entangled in the 
 net which the British authorities had woven round 
 him, and through which he was unable to break. 
 
 Adams now appears on the scene again ; it has been 
 mentioned that that commander had been detained 
 near Bhopal, and it was intended that he should soon 
 return to Hoshangabad, the usual station of the Nagpur 
 subsidiary force ; but Jenkins, having received early 
 notice of Maratha plans, recalled him promptly to 
 meet the enemy. He reached Hinganghat on the 6th 
 of April, in time to perform this service, as the ex- 
 Peshwa had been previously delayed by the Nagpur 
 Brigade which was sent out to oppose his advance 
 upon Chanda. Baji Rao now heard with dismay of 
 Apa Sahib's imprisonment, and found himself hemmed 
 in by British forces ; his object was entirely frustrated, 
 or, far from receiving any support, he had no hopes 
 of even maintaining himself in the field till the rains 
 fell, when military operations would have to be sus- 
 pended ; he therefore halted between the Wardha and 
 the Penganga, in a state of dejection and irresolution. 
 Adams, sure of his prey, waited until he had brought 
 up his supplies, and received information of the
 
 O VERTHRO W OF THE MA rAthA PO WERS 149 
 
 approach of Doveton and Smith ; he then attacked 
 the enemy at Seoni, on the 1 7th of April. They made 
 no stand whatsoever, and while they lost as many as 
 1,000 men, they only succeeded in wounding two 
 sepoys ; Baji Rao, as was his wont, headed the fugi- 
 tives, who scattered wildly in all directions, some to 
 the south-west, pursued by Smith, and others with 
 their chief, followed by Doveton ; the rout was com- 
 plete, and nearly two-thirds of a numerous army are 
 said to have deserted immediately afterwards. Dove- 
 ton, however, unfortunately got on the track of a 
 wrong body of the flying enemy, and failed to overtake 
 the Peshwd., who on reaching the Tapti river turned 
 northwards to endeavour, as a last and forlorn hope, to 
 find an asylum in Sindhia's territories, and to secure 
 the adhesion of that prince to his desperate cause. 
 Adams remained behind and reduced Chanda in May, 
 after which he returned to quarters at Hoshangabad. 
 
 Baji Rao did not however improve his position by 
 this move, for his passage to the north was barred by 
 forts in British possession, and by arrangements made 
 by Sir J. Malcolm on the Narbada. Added to this, 
 he was being surrounded on all sides by the concen- 
 tration of other troops in the neighbourhood, and 
 Lord Hastings, hearing of his attempt to carry the 
 war into Sindhia's country, was about to order 
 Ochterlony to throw himself between the enemy and 
 Gwalior, and to assume the direction of affairs in this 
 quarter. Hemmed in all round, and brought to bay, 
 the Peshwa's only chance of finding a refuge was in
 
 l5o LORD HASTINGS 
 
 the stronghold of Asirgarh, where the Killadar was 
 entirely at hia service ; but he quailed at the idea of 
 a siege, and recognised that even there he would be 
 by no means secure ; accordingly he sent to Malcolm 
 and offered to surrender if suitable terms were forth- 
 coming. The latter had been Political Officer in the 
 Deccan and was generally aware of the Governor- 
 General's intentions regarding the Poona state, but 
 his mission was over, and he was ignorant of the full 
 details of the new arrangements. Believing, however, 
 that it was supremely important to capture a prince 
 who had so long eluded the efforts of the numerous 
 troops employed against him, he took upon himself 
 the responsibility of communicating with him, and of 
 delaying the military operations by which he was to 
 be surrounded. Negotiations began, and after a show 
 of resistance, Baji Eao submitted and gave himself up, 
 upon the assurance that he and his followers would 
 be well treated, and that an annual pension of eight 
 lakhs of rupees (.^''80,000) would be allotted for his per- 
 sonal support. From this moment this worthless ruler 
 disappears from Indian history, and thenceforward he 
 lived and died at Cawnpur, in captivity. He left no 
 issue, but his heir was his adopted son, the infamous 
 Nana Sahib, whose evil career during the Indian Mu- 
 tiny is well known, and requires no comment here. 
 
 Lord Hastings confirmed this capitulation in all its 
 articles, but he signified his disapproval at its conclu- 
 sion. His indignation had been justly aroused against 
 Baji Kao, who ' had the villainy to send a secret offer
 
 VERTHRO W OF THE MA RA THA PO WERS 1 5 1 
 
 of poisoning Gokla, the general of his army, if in con- 
 sequence we would admit him to terras^.' He had also 
 wished to impress the natives of India by the capture 
 of the Peshwa, without being forced to grant before- 
 hand any conditions whatsoever, and he considered 
 that the sum of money allotted for the maintenance 
 of such a man was altogether too large. He had 
 fixed two lakhs as the proper amount, believing that 
 any surplus would be used to foment intrigues against 
 the British authority. On the other hand, Malcolm 
 pleaded that the Peshwa if driven to desperation 
 would have taken refuge in Aslrgarh, that it was im- 
 possible at that period of the year to besiege it, that 
 as long as Baji Rao remained at large there would be 
 no peace in the Deccan, and that the war would have 
 been needlessly protracted for several months. 
 
 Lord Hastings was not convinced by this reasoning ; 
 but he acknowledged the importance of the capture, 
 and ' the zeal and ability manifested by Sir J. Malcolm/ 
 and stated in 1822, ' Now, after the lapse of four years 
 from the period of Baji Rao's surrender, I am happy to 
 state that none of the ill consequences I apprehended, 
 from the very favourable terms offered by Sir J. Malcolm, 
 have taken place, except that perhaps a larger actual 
 expense has been incurred than would have sufficed 
 to put him down. On reviewing the whole transaction, 
 however, I see no reason for admitting that my original 
 view, based on the facts before stated, was erroneous 2.' 
 
 * Private Journal, ii. 276. 
 
 * Malcolm's Hisi. of India, i. 531 ; see also p. 518, &c., and App. No. V,
 
 152 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 While Eaji Rao was being pursued, the regular 
 conquest of his dominions was undertaken by several 
 columns of British troops. Towards the end of April, 
 the whole tract of country lying between Satara and 
 Khandesh, as well as the Konkan, were occupied, and 
 the numerous strongholds that guarded these districts 
 reduced. Pritzler having completed the task assigned 
 to him by the beginning of the month, marched to 
 the south to join General Munro, whose operations 
 must be briefly alluded to. That distinguished officer 
 had been engaged in the autumn of 1817 in carrying 
 out the stipulations of the treaty of Poona in the 
 south of the Peshwa's dominions ; appointed to the 
 command of the Deccan Reserve Division, he found 
 that there was much to be done in the districts where 
 he was stationed, and he temporarily placed General 
 Pritzler at the head of the force. The departure of 
 the division left him almost without any troops, 
 having at his disposal only six companies, a few 
 troops of cavalry, and a small battering train ; but he 
 speedily reinforced these meagre resources by levies 
 drawn from the inhabitants, and such was his personal 
 character that, in spite of his military weakness, he 
 effected by the end of January the conquest of the 
 whole country up to the Malpurbi river, and defeated a 
 Pindari band, which, eluding capture in the north, pene- 
 trated to a point near Dharwar. On being now slightly 
 reinforced, he advanced northwards, occupying the 
 country up to Belgaum, and taking that stronghold 
 early in April. The strain upon the small column
 
 OVERTHROW OF THE MARAtHA POWERS 153 
 
 which had abeady accomplished so much, now im- 
 paired its efficiency, and Munro was powerless to 
 continue his victorious advance, until Pritzler joined 
 him ; he then had a force of 4,000 men under him, with 
 which he pushed to Sholapur, to undertake the re- 
 duction of that important fort. Sholapur, the Peshwa's 
 principal military depot, was garrisoned by 1,000 men, 
 and was covered by an army of 6,000 Marathas, of 
 whom 1,200 were Arabs ; notwithstanding the resist- 
 ance of this army, the enemy were very soon put to 
 flight (10th of May), and the town carried by escalade, 
 the citadel falling five days later. This event com- 
 pleted the conquest of the south of the Peshwa's 
 dominions. 
 
 In the north, the invasion of Khandesh began 
 in the middle of May, before Doveton and Smith 
 had returned from their chase after Baji Rao. It 
 was more than ordinarily desirable to subdue that 
 province, since it was the home of the Arabs, — a 
 turbulent people who not only supported the Marathas, 
 but promoted disorder for its own sake ; in some re- 
 spects they were not unlike the Pathans, for having 
 established themselves in the country they usurped 
 all authority, tyrannised over the inhabitants, and 
 opposed the introduction of even the semblance of 
 regular government. Malegaon, the principal strong- 
 hold in the district, was the point to which the first 
 military operations were directed, and its reduction 
 proved a more difficult task than was at first antici- 
 pated. It was not until the 14th of June, — the enemy's
 
 154 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 magazine having blown up, — that the garrison capitu- 
 lated ; but on the fall of that fort, the whole province 
 surrendered, and by the middle of June it may be 
 said that all the ex-Peshwa's armies were defeated, 
 his dominions, forts, and military depots occupied, and 
 the conquered country transferred by force of arms to 
 the authority of the British Government. 
 
 Of all the numerous enemies banded against the 
 British power in November, 1817, there remained in 
 little more than six months, only one who was still 
 at large, and Lord Hastings was not long in deciding 
 his fate. The hostility evinced by Apa Sahib in the 
 spring of 1 8 1 8, after what had already taken place at 
 Nagpur, could not again be pardoned, and it was 
 resolved to depose him ; but, unlike the Peshwa, his 
 office was not to be abohshed, and a successor was 
 found in the person of a child, Baji Rao Bhonsla, 
 nephew of Pursaji and son of the latter's sister. It 
 was further ascertained about this time, that Apa 
 Sahib had been deeply concerned in the murder of 
 the unfortunate Pursaji, and in order to place the 
 culprit in safe custody while the war lasted, it was 
 arranofed to send him to the fort of Allahabad. He 
 left for this destination on the 3rd of May ; but some 
 of the native soldiers of his escort were bribed, and 
 the ex-Raja, having dressed himself up as an ordinary 
 sepoy, contrived by their assistance to escape, and 
 marched out of the camp in safety. It was usual for 
 the Indian princes to have their limbs rubbed at 
 night; upon this occasion a cushion had been prepared,
 
 OVERTHROW OF THE MARATHA POWERS 155 
 
 and when the officer whose duty it was to visit the 
 prisoner every two hours, came to his tent, he saw 
 two servants engaged in this operation and was quite 
 satisfied that his charge was in his keeping. Thus 
 ample time was given to effect a successful escape, 
 and Apa Sahib made such good use of the respite, 
 which his devoted followers had procured for him, 
 that, in spite of every exertion made for his re-capture, 
 he was not to be found and all trace of the fugitive 
 was lost. His flight was of no real importance, and 
 indeed it furnished an excuse for the pacification of 
 certain districts which but for this event might have 
 been left alone until a more favourable opportunity 
 should present itself ; but it necessarily protracted the 
 war somewhat longer than otherwise would have been 
 the case. 
 
 Apa Sahib was harboured by some discontented 
 natives living near Betul, and round his standard 
 there flocked a motley array of the broken fragments 
 of Arabs and of the Maratha states, and composed of 
 the discordant elements they contained, now united by 
 the common danger that threatened them all. In 
 July they succeeded in cutting to pieces a small 
 British detachment, and later they occasioned the 
 deployment of Adams' force ; but the rains interfered 
 with military operations, and nothing decisive could 
 be effected until the following year (1819), when the 
 disturbed district was reduced to order and the enemy 
 attacked. Apa Sahib, whose energy in collecting an 
 army far surpassed his courage in using it, was able
 
 156 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 to raise a respectable number of troops, but having no 
 strongholds or depots to rely on, and fearful of the 
 consequences of the struggle he had challenged, he 
 arranged with the Killadar of Asi'rgarh to give him 
 shelter in that fort. He soon made for this refuge, 
 and reached it in safety, accompanied by the Pindari 
 chief Chitu ; but the Killadar, though he had no 
 hesitation in receiving a Maratha prince, was afraid 
 to harbour a Pindari, and the wretched man, rejected 
 in the hour of danger and betrayed by false allies for 
 their own most selfish advantage, was in consequence 
 destroyed in the manner which has been already 
 related. 
 
 Lord Hastings rightly judged that the ex-Bhonsla 
 would fly for protection to Asirgarh, and while 
 directing that in this event the Killadar was to be 
 treated as a rebel, assembled a large force from the 
 divisions of Malcolm, Doveton, and Adams, consisting 
 of fifteen battalions, four regiments of cavalry, and 
 a battering train, to reduce this formidable stronghold. 
 The siege began on the 17th of March, 181 9, and on 
 the 9th of the following month the Killadar capitu- 
 lated, when it was ascertained that his resistance was 
 due to secret and pressing directions given by Sindhia 
 himself, entirely at variance with the pubKc declara- 
 tions of that prince, who professed anxiety, and had 
 issued orders that the fort should be surrendered in 
 accordance with the treaty of Gwalior. Apa Sahib 
 also had again escaped and was nowhere to be found ; 
 but his power for mischief was now gone for ever, for
 
 OVERTHROW OF THE MARATHA POWERS 157 
 
 every place was subdued, and further shelter there 
 was none. An offer of a pension of two lakhs of 
 rupees and a residence in British tenitory, on similar 
 terms to those given to the ex-Peshwa, failed to 
 receive any response, and he was at last heard of 
 in exile in the Punjab, where Ranjit Singh tolerated 
 his presence but refused to countenance him. Later, 
 he was allowed to live in Rajputana under surveil- 
 lance, and there he died without giving further trouble 
 to the British Government. 
 
 Long before the capture of Asirgarh, which was 
 the concluding military event of the last Maratha war, 
 Trimbakji and other leaders of disorder were taken, 
 and the former was again imprisoned in punishment 
 for the Shastri's murder, which he perpetrated in 
 1815. As peace was now everywhere restored, it is 
 time to return to the arrangements which were made 
 for the re-settlement of the provinces where hostilities 
 had taken place.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Reconstruction in Central India and in the 
 South-West, 1818-1823 
 
 There is probably no period in the history of 
 British progress in the East more full of interest and 
 more fruitful of important consequences to India than 
 that which has just been described, beginning in the 
 autumn of 1817 and ending in the following June, 
 when the war practically came to a conclusion. In 
 that short space of time stupendous changes had taken 
 place in the vast tracts of country where independent 
 native rule prevailed, and the whole continent, bounded 
 on the north-west by the Sutlej, was summarily brought 
 into subjection to the Government of Calcutta ^ The 
 predatory system was jfinally stamped out, and the 
 Maratha Empire for ever crushed ; everywhere victory 
 crowned the efforts of the Governor-General, and 
 though the military power of his enemies was con- 
 temptible, yet their latent force of resistance was 
 considerable, and it. was due to his foresight and 
 
 * Lord Hastings appears dazzled by the extraordinary alteration 
 so suddenly effected in Central India, and declares in February, 
 18 1 8, that he was 'still too near it to comprehend it thoroughly.' 
 Private Journal, ii. 277.
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 159 
 
 vigour that his policy had been successful and his 
 results decisive. 
 
 'What I contemplated,' he says in 1820, when describing 
 his operations, ' was the pushing forward, unexpectedly, 
 several corps which should occupy positions opposing in- 
 superable obstacles to the junction of the army of any state 
 with that of another ; and even expose to extreme peril any 
 sovereign's attempt to assemble the dispersed corps of his 
 forces within his own dominions, should we see cause to forbid 
 it. The success of this plan depended on the secrecy with 
 which the preparations could be made, the proper choice of 
 points to be seized, and the speed with which we could reach 
 the designated stations '.' 
 
 It is impossible not to admire the manner in which 
 the plan was executed, and how carefully prepared it 
 had been in every detail to effect the object for which 
 it was intended. Though no blow was struck, Sindhia, 
 when he least expected it, was isolated from the very 
 outset of the campaign, and was obliged, much against 
 his will, to maintain a neutral attitude. Amir Khan 
 was in the same way separated from his allies, intimi- 
 dated, and forced to disarm. The important line of 
 the Narbada being rapidly seized and firmly held, the 
 native states of the Deccan were divided from those 
 of Hindustan, and a good central position obtained, 
 whence to operate with ease to the north and south. 
 British forces were also interposed between Poena 
 and Nagpur, and all co-operation between the princes 
 of those states rendered impossible. And, lastly, the 
 
 * Malcolm's Hist, of India, i. 491. Summary, &c., p. 14.
 
 l6o LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Pindaris were effectually surrounded, deprived of sup- 
 port, hunted down, and destroyed. The prehminary 
 dispositions having been made with much forethought 
 and skill, the results anticipated followed as a matter 
 of course ; so when the Peshwa and the Bhonsla Raja 
 revolted, they found themselves surrounded and their 
 provinces quickly overrun, Holkar was met and easily 
 defeated, and the rest were overawed and rendered 
 incapable of offering resistance. Every contingency 
 had been amply provided for ; the Maratha states 
 were powerless to combine when they most required 
 mutual assistance, and the hordes of freebooters were 
 unable to derive the smallest benefit from those native 
 princes who were anxious to give them support. 
 
 The pohcy adopted to put down disorder, though it 
 ended by a large accession of territory in India, was 
 not intended to add to British possessions ; on the 
 contrary, the operations undertaken were purely of a 
 defensive nature, and had for their object the pro- 
 tection of the Company's dominions and the safety of 
 British subjects and allies. Lord Hastings repudiated 
 distinctly any aggressive design, and in 1820 com- 
 municated his views on this subject to England in 
 the following words : — 
 
 ' But for the unforeseen perfidy and unaccountable folly of 
 the Pesliwa and the Il4jd of Ndgpur, I might have con- 
 gratulated myself and your Honourable Company on the 
 successful accomplishment of my original hope of effecting 
 the suppression of the predatory system, without disturbing 
 any of the established powers of India, or adding a rood to
 
 RECONSTRUCTION l6l 
 
 the possession of the British Government. I feel assured 
 your Honourable Committee has been satisfied that such was 
 my earnest desire ; and that its disappointment has been 
 occasioned by circumstances beyond my control. When those 
 circumstances did occur, and the necessity arose for my 
 directing your arms against treacherous allies and declared 
 enemies, you will, I am persuaded, admit the impracticability 
 of my adhering to those limits which my duty and inclination 
 would otherwise have prescribed, without a sacrifice of your 
 interest and security which no profession of obedience to 
 orders, issued under a different view of things, would have 
 justified to myself or my country ^/ 
 
 But the war nevertheless did occasion a destructive 
 period in India, and extended over a far wider area 
 than was represented by the territories of these two 
 Maratha rulers. No independent state had escaped 
 its disturbing effects, the whole balance of power had 
 been violently shaken and completely upset, and con- 
 stitutional changes of a far-reaching and fundamental 
 character had been made in many provinces. A compre- 
 hensive scheme of reconstruction had therefore to be 
 effected, and as the territories to be submitted to this 
 process extended over nearly half a million square miles, 
 the task was a gigantic one, and entailed a greater 
 and more important labour by far than that which 
 had hitherto occupied the energies of the Governor- 
 General. By the results he achieved is his success 
 to be commended or his failure blamed ; for easy as it 
 often is to abolish an evil system, its destruction is 
 
 ^ Malcolm's H.ist. of India, i. 502. 
 L
 
 1 52 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 mis-spent labour, unless it is replaced by something 
 better and more useful to the interests of mankind. 
 
 Nor was it only the right of conquest that imposed 
 upon the Indian Government the duty of a re-settle- 
 ment of the disturbances which hostilities had created, 
 for the immediate and natural result of the war was 
 the de facto recognition, by the whole of India, of 
 England's supreme suzerainty ; and although that posi- 
 tion was not assumed de jure until within our own 
 generation (some sixty years after the events we are 
 now recording), yet none the less did British authority 
 everywhere supplant the Mughal Emperor effectually 
 and conclusively, and the natives of India universally 
 acknowledged that his traditional rights had thence- 
 forward passed away irrevocably into the keeping of 
 the Government of Calcutta. There was consequently 
 an almost moral as well as material force at the back 
 of the Government, and while this contributed to make 
 the work to be undertaken easier than might other- 
 wise have been the case, yet it also added in no small 
 degree to the responsibility incun-ed, that the recon- 
 struction to be brought about should be equitable, 
 satisfactory, and beneficial to the people whose happi- 
 ness and future welfare was entrusted to the care of 
 the British nation. 
 
 In the work of pacification (a description of which 
 must necessarily be exceedingly brief and cursory in 
 this small volume), Lord Hastings had the good for- 
 tune to be assisted by some of the most distinguished 
 Anglo-Indian administrators that have ever served in
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 163 
 
 the East. In a long roll of British statesmen, whose 
 labours in the public service of India have trained the 
 natives to habits of order and civilization, and con- 
 ciliated the people to higher ideas and to Western rule, 
 few stand more prominent than Elphinstone, Munro, 
 Malcolm, Metcalfe, and Ochterlony. These men and 
 others, who served in a minor but scarcely less im- 
 portant capacity, were all remarkable for their ability 
 and for their thorough knowledge of native affairs, as 
 well as for their active sympathy with the prejudices 
 and sentiments of the people with whom they came 
 into contact. Their efforts upon this occasion were 
 conspicuously successful, and contributed in no small 
 degree to make the reconstruction dui-able and advan- 
 tageous not only to the conquerors but also to the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 To secure the future and permanent tranquillity of 
 the Indian continent, it is evident that the paramount 
 authority of England had to be asserted and main- 
 tained over the foreign affairs of all the native states, 
 and this included the control of their military con- 
 cerns. This principle was everywhere adopted and 
 enforced. But the existing order which had prevailed 
 in the internal affairs of the various states was dis- 
 turbed as little as possible, and only such territory 
 added to the Company's direct possession as was 
 necessary to establish securely British power, or which 
 could not be otherwise settled. As an example of this, 
 the ex-Peshwa's dominions were taken over and placed 
 under English administration, in conformity with the 
 
 L a
 
 1 64 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 policy which was adopted in the Poona principality, 
 and for reasons which have already been explained in 
 the last chapter. But elsewhere the general rule 
 which prevailed was to incorporate that territory 
 alone whose revenues were sufficient to maintain the 
 subsidiary forces which were required for the control 
 of the native princes. Society was left free and 
 unfettered to develop itself, without the imposition, 
 by force or interference, of a higher culture for which 
 it was unfitted, and the rulers who were still pre- 
 served at the head of their states were made inde- 
 pendent, as far as it was consistent with the central 
 control of Calcutta to be exercised for the preservation 
 of general tranquillity. 
 
 It was further determined to increase the influence 
 of those states where intelligent chiefs existed, — native 
 princes who co-operated with British officers in the 
 introduction of salutary reforms, and who, having 
 deserved consideration at the hands of the Governor- 
 General for the services they rendered, would be 
 likely to lay the foundation of civilized government 
 in the provinces under their rule. It was natural 
 that they should be rewarded and encouraged; and 
 there was plenty of land at the disposal of Lord 
 Hastings to carry out this principle, for many worth- 
 less chiefs were dispossessed or their territories re- 
 duced. 
 
 In effecting these changes, and indeed on other oc- 
 casions, an endeavour was moreover made to remove 
 all future causes of contention, and with this object, to
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 165 
 
 define the boundaries wbich hitherto existed between 
 the various states, and which, being hopelessly in- 
 volved and indeterminate, were a fruitful source of 
 bloodshed and anarchy. To give some idea of the 
 confusion which existed in this respect, it may be 
 mentioned that many of the Maratha princes had 
 rights over one and the same village, and not un- 
 frequently did it occur that portions of a distant 
 town, unconnected territorially with either of its 
 sovereigns, were ruled by one chief and the remainder 
 by another^. Causes of dispute were therefore con- 
 stantly at hand to produce among a turbulent people 
 perennial feuds and unnecessary disturbances, and 
 hence it became imperative that a new delimitation 
 of rights and frontiers should at once be made by the 
 paramount authority, to obviate for the future so ex- 
 traordinary an invitation to discord. An example 
 of this strange Maratha system, which was incom- 
 patible with the rudiments of civil government, and 
 the occasion of feuds and riot, is given by Lord 
 Hastings : — 
 
 'The radical policy of the Mardthds was oddly avowed 
 lately by an agent of Sindhia. The rights or possessions of 
 the Mardtha chiefs are strangely intermixed with those of 
 the different Eajds between the Jumna and the Narbadd. 
 In one instance there was a district enveloped in the terri- 
 tories of the Kdjd of Bundi, the annual revenue of which was 
 
 * A statement of Holkar's various claims is given in Wilson, viii. 
 Appendix vi, showing how Maratha rights were so inextricably 
 intermixed that anarchy was the inevitable result.
 
 1 66 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 divisible in equal portions betwq.P:ji the latter chief, Holkar, 
 and Sindhia. As the two Marathi, princes kept agents there 
 to watch over their shares, there was an obvious chance of 
 quarrels ; and we wished to secure the Bundi chief, who had 
 been taken under our pi'otection, against any vexatious pre- 
 tension on the part of his neighbours. It was therefore 
 proposed that Sindhia should cede his title to any income 
 from the district in question, and should receive from us 
 certain villages producing a rent considerably beyond what 
 we wished him to give up. A strong disinclination to close 
 with this proposal was manifested. When it was urged that 
 Sindhia would not only be a pecuniary gainer by the exchange, 
 but that he would acquire a tract which actually connected 
 itself with his old possessions, and would be exclusively his, 
 the Marathd negotiator denied that the circumstance of sole 
 occupancy could be an advantage to his master equal to what 
 the Mahdraja enjoyed by his co-partnership in the Bundi 
 district. On surprise being expressed at this assertion, he 
 explained it by saying, " We Marathds have a maxim that it 
 is well to have a finger in every man's dish." His meaning 
 was, that there was solid value in pretexts for interference 
 which would afford opportunities of pillage or extortion ^' 
 
 Finally, it was hoped, by tho creation or develop- 
 ment of states not likely to co-operate with the 
 Marathas, that the intrigues of the latter would be 
 paralj^sed and their ambition kept in check. With 
 this object some of the Muhammadan princes were 
 strengthened and their dominions enlarged. 
 
 To sum up the general principles which were 
 adopted in effecting the reconstruction of native 
 India, conquered by Lord Hastings in the third ajid 
 
 ^ Private Journal, ii. 330. Summary, &c., p. 24.
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 167 
 
 last Maratha war, we may quote a short paragraph 
 taken from a work which appeared in 1825 ^ : — 
 
 ' The system which prevails throughout is pretty uniform. 
 There is, first, a native family vested with the nominal 
 sovereignty ; then there is a military force essentially British, 
 having British officers, or there is a British cantonment at 
 no great distance, and sometimes both, to assure the sub- 
 mission of the population to whatever may be ordained. 
 For the application of this force, and to watcb over the 
 conduct of those who originate the administrative measures, 
 there is everywhere a British Political Agent or Resident, 
 reporting only to his government, and receiving his orders 
 thence, but exercising a large personal discretion as to inter- 
 ference or non-interference with the native local authority.' 
 
 It has been already mentioned that British protec- 
 tion was accepted in 1817 by Nasir Muhammad, 
 Nawab of Bhopal, and that he faithfully maintained 
 his engagements ; moreover, he co-operated usefully 
 with Colonel Adams in arranging for the submission 
 of many of the Pindarls, and the measures he adopted 
 tamed those brigands and colonised some of his waste 
 lands. His good will was rewarded by increase of 
 territory, so that the little state rose to political im- 
 portance in Malwa, and acquired a revenue sufficient 
 to maintain a high position and to exercise a con- 
 siderable influence in Central India. Nasir Muham- 
 mad, the enlightened Nawab, was accidentally killed 
 in November, 18 19, and the Supreme Government 
 having to intervene, settled the succession. It will 
 
 ' Prinsep, ii. 407.
 
 1 68 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 be recollected that the neighbouring principality of 
 Sagar was occupied by British troops ; as a special con- 
 cession, the detachment stationed there was allowed 
 to take the place of a subsidiary force in Bhopal. 
 
 The districts ceded to British authority in the 
 valley of the Narbada (formerly under various native 
 princes), were placed under the management of a 
 Commissioner in 1818, with orders to disturb the 
 customs which prevailed there as little as possible. 
 Later, in 1827, Sagar was added to the province so 
 formed, and under this administration, the revenues 
 rose slightly from twenty -two lakhs of rupees in 181 8, 
 to twenty-six in 1839^. 
 
 The settlement of Kajputana was quite as im- 
 portant as that of Malwa, for the predatory system 
 had caused equally disastrous effects, and the per- 
 petual strife it engendered, as well as the constant 
 feuds which raged between the different factions in 
 that locality, were fatal to public order. The pacifi- 
 cation of this turbulent district was entrusted to 
 Ml*. Metcalfe, the Resident at Delhi, who was ably 
 assisted by Captain Tod, and in 1 819, on Metcalfe's 
 appointment as Political Secretary, Sir D. Ochterlony 
 discharged his difficult duties. The Resident was in- 
 structed to demand that the tributes which had been 
 irregularly levied from the Rajput princes by Mara- 
 tha and Pathan chiefs, should for the future be paid 
 to the Supreme Government, in return for which pro- 
 tection was to be given on the usual conditions, viz. 
 
 * Wilson, viii. 400.
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 169 
 
 that no alliances were to be entered into with other 
 states, and that all disputes were to be referred to 
 British arbitration ; he was further directed to abolish 
 the traditional suzerainty which had been technically- 
 enjoyed by the Maharana of Udaipur, — a prince whose 
 real weakness had caused great disorder by the mis- 
 rule which military violence had produced everywhere, 
 and which he was totally unable to check. According 
 to the new system all the Rajput Rajas were put on 
 an equal footing, that is, they were placed under 
 a protected dependence on British supremacy, and 
 it was hoped, as soon as they were subjected to 
 the suzerainty exercised at Calcutta, that hereditary 
 jealousies would be appeased and the predatory gangs 
 rendered impossible for the future. 
 
 Protective treaties were concluded with the Rajas 
 of Kotah, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Biindi, Jaipur, and with 
 many others, and the disputes which some of these 
 princes had with their Thakurs, or vassals, were 
 adjusted. Affairs in Jaipur, however, were not easily 
 arranged, and in May, 1818, Sir D. Ochterlony was 
 obliged to undertake the reduction of two forts, which 
 speedily submitted and disposed the more turbulent 
 feudatories to come to terms. But in the following 
 December, Jagat Singh, the Raja, died, and leaving 
 no heir, a contest was imminent : though this disaster 
 was happily avoided by the birth of a posthumous 
 child, yet anarchy continued to flourish, and it was 
 not until 1823 that Ochterlony could introduce peace 
 into the distracted principality. The other Rajput
 
 I70 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 states proved to be more easily managed, and although 
 the British Government had occasionally to intervene, 
 the effects of the new system were gradually felt, re- 
 forms were undertaken, feuds came to an end, and the 
 turbulence of the Thakurs was restrained. 
 
 ' I have only to add,' writes Sir D. Ochterlony, when re- 
 porting officially to the Supreme Government, ' that through- 
 out my tour I have derived the most sincere gratification, 
 from observing the prevalent tranquillity and increasing 
 prosperity of the country. From the prince to the peasant, 
 I have found every tongue eloquent in the expression of 
 gratitude to the British Government for the blessings they 
 enjoy. Discontent or oppression appears equally unknown, 
 except at Ujjain, and a few other places in the immediate 
 occupancy of Sindhia's relatives ^.' 
 
 The extraordinary folly of the Peshwa and the 
 Bhonsla Raja in provoking a quarrel with the British 
 Government, stands out conspicuously as one of the 
 inexplicable events in the history of this period. 
 Constantly plotting against the power with which 
 they affected to be in alliance, and to whose in- 
 fluence they owed their positions, they seemed in- 
 capable of adopting vigorous measures to throw 
 off the yoke it imposed, or to perform the engage- 
 ments it required. Destitute of real ability, even de- 
 ficient in personal courage, they displayed none of 
 the generosity which attracts sympathy, nor any of 
 the qualities which might atone for their perfidy, and 
 they fell as they deserved to fall, — unlike the many 
 
 * Summary, &c., p. 19, and Appendix B.
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 171 
 
 popular leaders who have been crushed in the defence 
 of national rights, — unlamented, unhonoured, and 
 forgotten. Nevertheless, at first their revolt had 
 the approval of the whole of the Maratha nation, and 
 the confidence reposed in the wisdom and the plans 
 of the native princes was sufficient to induce the 
 almost universal belief among the Hindus that the 
 English would be driven out of Asia. Nor were 
 these expectations dissipated after the first defeats, 
 and it was not until the victory at Ashti, which 
 delivered the Raja of Satara from the Peshwa's power, 
 that the natives acknowledged resistance to be vain ^. 
 Henceforward the treachery of the two Maratha 
 rulers in the Deccan became an advantage to the 
 Governor-General ; for the timidity of many was 
 roused by the sudden and unexpected collapse of 
 national aspirations, and they feared to lose their 
 possessions if they obstinately maintained a hostile 
 attitude towards the winning side ; the intelligence 
 of others soon perceived that their princes were 
 contemptible, and not worth supporting ; while to 
 all was the weakness of the foremost Maratha chiefs 
 so clear, that the other states took warning by the 
 example unfolded before their eyes. No real principle 
 of national life was at stake in the contest, and if 
 there had been such a thing, the conduct of the 
 Maratha chiefs soon dissipated the charm. Hence 
 when the Peshwa surrendered, and when the power 
 of a few tyrants was broken down, their authority 
 ' Prinsep, ii. 288.
 
 172 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 was gone and the glamour that belonged to their 
 position disappeared. 
 
 Nor was it forgotten that British rule, where it 
 existed, had been just and satisfactory, that native 
 customs were maintained and respected, and that 
 the Governor-General was the sole avenger of a 
 Brahman of rank who had been sacrificed by the 
 Peshwa himself at the bidding of a low-caste ad- 
 venturer. 
 
 Added to this, there was a general feehng current 
 in India, that the supremacy of England was an 
 event which was not to be resisted, and many natives 
 of the better classes desired that British rule should 
 be estabhshed. Numerous examples of this are 
 given in the history of that time, to which we may 
 add the following incidents mentioned in the Private 
 Journal : — 
 
 The Kaj Guru, or high priest, of Nepal, thus ex- 
 pressed himself to the Assistant Resident at Khat- 
 mandu : — 
 
 * One after another the native sovereigns will be urged, by 
 folly, or overweening pride, to attack you; and then you 
 must, in self-defence, conquer ; and then you are much the 
 stronger, whether you intended it or not \' 
 
 And again, an English officer having asked a native 
 whether it was really the wish of the people to see 
 their country transferred to a foreign rule : — 
 
 ' To be sure it is our wish,' repHed the man. * Can you 
 
 ' Pi-ivate Journal, ii. 206.
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 173 
 
 think us such fook as not to desire to have our estates 
 and the earnings of our industry secure % We must always 
 be exposed to the cupidity of a native sovereign; but 
 we know that the British, either from a spirit of justice, 
 or fiom policy, always leave individuals in the enjoyment 
 of their property ^' 
 
 In short, numerous causes contributed to form a 
 sort of public opinion, as soon as the assured success 
 of British arms gave it the power and the faculty 
 to speak out without apprehension, and this opinion 
 set in with increasing force against the leaders of 
 the revolt. In this way the princes who survived 
 destruction made efforts towards reform, and once 
 they tried to introduce order ; the benefits it afforded 
 became apparent to their untutored minds, and a 
 natural improvement in their affairs took place. 
 
 So strong were these influences, that they became 
 immediately apparent even at the courts of Holkar 
 and Sindhia, where, judging from what were the 
 feelings there, we should least expect to find them 
 operating. The treaty signed with Holkar at Man- 
 desar, 6th January, 1818, has already been noticed. 
 The prince, Malhar Rao, was a minor, and through 
 British influence Tantia Jogh was appointed minister, 
 and was vested with the powers of regent. This 
 arrangement, having been facilitated by the fact 
 that the heads of this distracted state had been re- 
 moved by internal feuds or by recent events, proved 
 to be very satisfactory. Tantia Jogh was a man of 
 
 * Private Journal, i. 236.
 
 174 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 no small ability and discretion, and of considerable 
 education and character ; he was instrumental in 
 adjusting difficulties as they arose by his own 
 authority, without resorting to British intervention — 
 a course which was sometimes necessary, but which was 
 discouraged and sparingly applied, and only followed 
 in cases of extreme urgency. Under his guidance and 
 by the advice and assistance of Sir J. Malcolm, the con- 
 fusion existing in the principality was rapidly removed. 
 It was, however, found impossible to separate, in any 
 thoroughly satisfactory manner, Holkar's territories 
 from those of Sindhia, with which they were inter- 
 woven in a very confused and in true Maratha fashion, 
 but the Resident was always present to smooth over 
 and to arbitrate upon differences should they arise. 
 By the treaty just mentioned, portions of Holkar's 
 dominions north of Btindi and south of the Satpura 
 hills were ceded, and Mulhar Eao renounced for ever 
 the rights he arrogated to himself in Rajputana. In 
 this manner his territoi'ies were considerably dimin- 
 ished, but on the other hand the principality was 
 made more compact, and was easier to govern. As a 
 result, the revenues which had been only four lakhs 
 of rupees, raised with difficulty, amounted in 1826, 
 when Tantia Jogh died, to as much as thirty-five 
 lakhs 1. 
 
 The arrangement made with Sindhia in November, 
 18 1 7, had been of a temporary character. Before 
 dispersing the army which was watching him and 
 
 * Wilson, viii. 405.
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 1 75 
 
 insuring his good behaviour, it became necessary to 
 conclude a permanent treaty with him in 1818. 
 Sindhia practically forfeited no territory, but he 
 agreed to certain exchanges of districts by which he 
 was not the loser, and in this manner he ceded Ajmere 
 to the British Government, a province which was 
 much required to exclude Maratha influence from 
 Kajputana, and to maintain a restraining check over 
 the affairs in that turbulent locality. When Daulat 
 Rao's duplicity with regard to Asirgarh became 
 known (in 1819), Lord Hastings contented himself 
 by sending the incriminating correspondence to 
 Gwalior, with an intimation that the fort would be 
 retained in perpetuity; but with politic moderation 
 he made no further demands, and took no more notice 
 of the incident. Since that time the attitude of the 
 Maharaja towards the English changed completely, 
 and far from objecting to a proposal by which the 
 command of a body of his troops was given to 
 British officers, he willingly accepted a treaty in 1820, 
 which, though not in name, was practically the same 
 as a subsidiary alliance. Under this protection, he 
 recovered many of the provinces which his insubor- 
 dinate commanders had usurped, his finances which 
 were in great disorder improved, and a system of 
 regular government was soon introduced, which re- 
 lieved the inhabitants of the crushing tyranny which 
 oppressed them. 
 
 Nor was the feeling of resignation to British 
 guidance exceptional in the north ; in the Deccan
 
 176 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 also, the vassals of the revolted princes soon began to 
 submit to the inevitable with cheerfulness and alacrity, 
 when the Commissioner, Mr. Elphinstone, seizing the 
 most suitable opportunity, issued the proclamation 
 which announced the Peshwa s deposition in February, 
 181 8. His action in this respect was made still more 
 successful by the wise measures he took to reconcile 
 all classes of society to the new system, first, by 
 assuring the payers of taxes that Maratha extortion 
 was at an end ; secondly, by the toleration, even 
 protection, promised to the Brahmans and to the 
 religious institutions of the country ; and, thirdly, by 
 the security extended to the holders of fiefs, on con- 
 dition that submission was made and that the rights 
 of others were not interfered with. The numerous 
 bands of military adventurers who throve under the 
 ex-Peshwa's disorderly government alone remained 
 dissatisfied; as many of these as possible, after they 
 had been duly depressed by reverses in the field, 
 were given suitable employment in the native levies, 
 raised to serve in the provinces which had been 
 transferred to the British Government. The danger 
 that a great and sudden influx of Baji Rao's defeated 
 forces would commit acts of plunder on their return 
 home, was one which could not be overlooked, and 
 extreme care was taken to meet such a contingency, 
 by encouraging those that could not be drafted into 
 the army, to settle down peaceably, and by severely 
 dealing with marauders. These precautions were 
 cfiiciently carried out, and it speaks well for Elphin-
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 177 
 
 stone's enlightened and vigorous administration, that 
 the peace of the country was in no way disturbed. 
 The Arabs, however, were treated in a different manner ; 
 they were disorderly aliens, most diificult to tame, and 
 unless they changed their habits, there was no reason 
 why they should be allowed to remain and disturb 
 the Hindus who were beginning to settle down into 
 peaceable pursuits ; those, therefore, who could not be 
 restrained, were made to leave the districts over 
 which they had tyrannised, and were shipped off to 
 their native country. 
 
 The dominions of the ex-Peshw^, except those por- 
 tions handed over to native princes, were administered 
 by British officers ; Munro was retained in the south, 
 settling the country beyond the Kistna river ; the 
 province of the Konkan was immediately added to the 
 Bombay possessions, but the remainder was kept 
 separate under Elphinstone, until he was appointed 
 Governor, when the whole was transferred to that 
 Presidency (1820). The Raja of Satara, though treated 
 with the utmost deference, was more of a nominal 
 sovereign than anything else ; the principality was 
 at first administered by an English officer (Captain 
 Grant Duff) ; but in September, 18 19, future relations 
 were agreed to, under which the Raja was still kept 
 in a state of dependence but was given greater free- 
 dom of action than had been the case before ; these 
 arrangements came into operation in 1822. 
 
 We have seen that in the Nagpur state, which though 
 extensive was not much more valuable than that of 
 
 M
 
 178 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Satara, a child was placed on the Masnad instead of 
 Apa Sahib. Lord Hastings, who endeavoured as far 
 as he could to abstain from all interference in the 
 internal affairs of the native states, desired to set up 
 a Hindu administration, but after a short experiment 
 the plan failed, and for some years British officers had 
 to carry on the government, under the Resident and 
 in the name of the young Raja. The Governor- General 
 made continual efforts to form a native ministry and 
 so relieve himself of a charge which he had unwillingly 
 undertaken, and which was contrary to the general 
 policy adopted in the unabsorbed provinces ; but 
 during his stay in India, this alteration was impos- 
 sible, and the change was made later. It should, 
 however, be added here that in order to secure entire 
 control over the foreign affairs of the Bhonsla's do- 
 minions, his army was placed under British officers. 
 
 The re-settlement consequent upon the third Mara- 
 tha war extended also, but in a minor degree, to the 
 states of Haidarabad and of Baroda, where hostilities 
 had not disturbed the relations of the princes who 
 reigned there with the Supreme Government. A re- 
 adjustment of territory was subsequently made in the 
 Nizam's dominions, and in 1822 that sovereign was 
 relieved of the antiquated claims which the Peshwa 
 had upon him, in the shape of ' chauth ' or quarter 
 revenues, — a form of tribute which, being irregularly 
 levied and often resisted, led to interminable disputes, 
 and was the cause of considerable trouble. The Nizam, 
 moreover, received certain districts which, lying geo-
 
 RECONSTRUCTION 1 79 
 
 graphically near his own provinces, belonged formerly 
 to Baji Rao, to the Bhonsla, and to Holkar ; in return, 
 he yielded territory of less value, with the result that 
 his dominions were consolidated and his frontiers 
 more accurately defined. 
 
 The Gaekwar of Baroda had already received con- 
 siderable advantages by the treaty of Poona, June, 
 1817, amounting to an increased revenue of about 
 twenty-two lakhs of rupees^. After the war, an 
 exchange of territory was effected and an increase of 
 the subsidiary force (to be paid for by the native 
 prince) was agreed to. Relations with Baroda were 
 somewhat complicated by the fact that the British 
 Government had for many years practically ruled 
 there, on account of the imbecility of the Gaekwar' 
 Anand Rao. This prince died in 1819, and was- 
 succeeded by his brother, Syaji Rao, and it then 
 became necessary to enter upon a new agreement 
 with that state. Mr. Elphinstone, on becoming Go- 
 vernor of Bombay, accordingly proceeded to Baroda 
 and concluded a treaty in 1830, by which the control 
 so long exercised over the Gaekwar was practically 
 maintained, although the latter was now granted an 
 increase of power over the internal affairs of his 
 principality which could not formerly have been 
 allowed. 
 
 Such generally were the main lines of the recon- 
 struction effected in Central India and in the South- 
 West, after one of the most decisive wars undertaken by 
 
 * Wilson, viii. 401. 
 M ?
 
 i8o LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Great Britain in Asia. As a result, about two-thirds 
 of the Indian Continent was held under the direct 
 management of the British Government, and in the 
 newly acquired provinces, as had been the case in the 
 older, an enlightened administration soon improved 
 the face of the country and the lot of the inhabitants ; 
 the people speedily became reconciled to their new 
 masters and to the civilisation they introduced. In 
 the remaining third, native rulers governed, but 
 subject to the vigilant and judicious control of the 
 Supreme Government. It naturally took a longer 
 time for an improvement to take place in these 
 districts, but nevertheless a marked change for the 
 better did shortly manifest itself. Villages which 
 had been desolate and ruined were re-peopled, con- 
 fidence was gradually restored, the wandering bands 
 of military marauders and adventurers ceased, the 
 revenues increased, and general prosperity was intro- 
 duced. ' The dark age of trouble and violence,' says 
 a writer of the day, already often quoted^, 'which so 
 long spread its malign influence over the fertile regions 
 of Central India, has thus ceased from this time ; and 
 a new era has commenced, we trust, with brighter 
 prospects, — an era of peace, prosperity, and wealth at 
 least, if not of political liberty and high moral im- 
 provement.' 
 
 This prophecy has not been falsified, but it is not to 
 be supposed that the new order which was established 
 was a perfect work, and that it did not give rise to 
 * Prinsep, ii. 421.
 
 RECONSTR UCTION 1 8 1 
 
 future abuses which required correction. It is seldom 
 that any reform can be final or complete in its opera- 
 tions, and if this 4s so in smaller afiairs, how much 
 the more must it not be the case in a gigantic work 
 of reconstruction where misgovernment had existed 
 for generations over an immense area of territory ? 
 The imperfections of the re-settlement were foreseen 
 at the time, and while it was held that the general 
 principles upon which it was based were the best that 
 could be adopted, yet it was also allowed that they 
 would require modifications in detail at no distant 
 date. We have seen that the principles consisted in 
 the following points, viz. that the native chiefs were 
 left as free as possible in the administration of their in- 
 ternal afiairs, but that they were absolutely restrained 
 in their foreign relations, and that their military estab- 
 lishments were removed from their practical control. 
 In time the system disclosed its defects, for the Indian 
 princes too often neglected the duties of their own 
 limited government, and far from ruling their sub- 
 jects for the benefit of the people, tyrannised and 
 oppressed them in an intolerable manner^. Such a 
 shameless disregard of every principle of government 
 when it occurred, could not but concern the para- 
 mount authority of England, and the consequences 
 have been the further extension of British rule in a 
 way which has been totally undesired by the supreme 
 power. These events form no part of the present 
 
 ^ See Marquess of Dalhousie, BmUts of India series, by Sir W. 
 Himter, p. 125.
 
 i8z LORD HASTINGS 
 
 work, and have only been mentioned to show that 
 while the reconstruction effected by Lord Hastings 
 was satisfactory at the time, it formed but a step in 
 the general development of English ascendency in 
 India.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Foreign Relations ; Internal Affairs ; the 
 
 GREAT CASE OP PaLMER & Co 
 
 So much space has been necessarily taken up with 
 the great questions which agitated Central India, that 
 there is little room left in this short sketch of the 
 administration of Lord Hastings to describe the other 
 public transactions which took place during the period 
 of his active rule. It is therefore only proposed to 
 indicate a few of them as briefly as possible, dividing 
 those that relate to foreign affairs from matters that 
 concern internal policy, and thus to complete, it is 
 hoped, a general view of the important events in the 
 far East which took place at this time. 
 
 Without entering upon the details of the irritating 
 disputes with which the Indian Government became 
 involved with Burma, and which soon afterwards 
 culminated in a war, it will perhaps be sufficient to 
 mention here, that though Lord Hastings had con- 
 siderable difficulty in maintaining peaceable relations 
 with that country, yet he succeeded in doing so by the 
 adoption of a firm and conciliatory attitude. He was 
 exceedingly unwilling to provoke a quarrel, and during
 
 1 84 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 his time the Burmese had no reasonable cause for 
 complaint. Nevertheless, such was their eagerness to 
 avenge themselves on what they considered their 
 wrongs, that they fulminated a declaration of war 
 against the Supreme Government in 1818, when the 
 Maratha crisis had reached a climax ; but they mis- 
 calculated their power, for before they could move, 
 their allies had been subdued and they themselves 
 had been defeated by the Siamese. The Governor- 
 General accordingly put an end summarily to their 
 arrogant pretension to destroy the British Empire in 
 India, and 'evaded the necessity of noticing an insolent 
 step' by treating the hostile message as a forgery'. 
 
 It may be interesting to remark that Ceylon about 
 this time (181 8-1 9) was finally subjugated, and the 
 whole island, with the assistance of Indian troops, 
 placed under the British authority. 
 
 During Lord Minto's administration in India, the 
 settlements in Java were conquered by an expedition 
 from Bengal, but they were shortly afterwards (1814) 
 restored to the Dutch, so unconditionally, that no pro- 
 vision was made to maintain the treaties which had 
 been contracted with the native powers for the benefit 
 Df British trade. The Dutch immediately attempted 
 to exclude all foreign competition in the archipelago, 
 and had it not been for the activity of Sir Thomas 
 Baffles (Governor of a small colony in Sumatra), their 
 efforts would probably have been successful. 
 
 ^ Malcolm's History of India, i. 549, &c. ; Private Journal, ii. 341 ; 
 Summary, &c., p. 18.
 
 FOREIGN RELATIONS 185 
 
 Lord Hastings, judging that the question of op- 
 posing a European power was one which required 
 reference to England, annulled Raffles' first measures, 
 but he approved of the policy of counteracting the 
 exclusion which was sought to be brought about, and 
 expressed the following opinion — 'that the proceed- 
 ings of the Netherlands authorities since the arrival of 
 the Commissioners-General to receive charge of the 
 Dutch colonies, had been actuated by a spirit of 
 ambition, by views of boundless aggrandisement and 
 rapacity, and by a desire to obtain the power of 
 monopolising the commerce of the eastern archipelago, 
 and excluding the English from these advantages 
 which they had long enjoyed, and which they only 
 wished to share in common with the other nations of 
 the earth.' He considered it necessary, therefore, to 
 strengthen British possessions in the far East, and 
 thus to secure a safe trade-route to China, which 
 otherwise would have been closed. With this object, 
 he approved of a proposition to occupy Singapore, 
 which was then an almost desert island, inhabited 
 only by a few fishermen. Raffles promptly put the 
 plan into execution (18 19), despite the protests of the 
 Dutch, who did not contemplate any such operation. 
 Considerable friction between the two powers was the 
 result, until 1824, when a treaty was signed with 
 Holland, by which certain territory was exchanged 
 and the respective spheres of influence of the two 
 countries were defined, giving England a secure pas- 
 sage for her merchandise, and leaving the legitimate
 
 1 85 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 aspirations of the Dutch free scope to develop. It 
 may be added that about this time missions were sent 
 to Siam and to Cochin China, to promote the expan- 
 sion of British commerce in those regions, but little or 
 no results followed these efforts at the time^. 
 
 The security of trade in Asia was further estab- 
 lished by the destruction of pirates, who from time 
 immemorial infested the coasts of India and the 
 approaches thereto. Several expeditions were fitted 
 out for this purpose in 1819-20 to the Persian Gulf 
 and to Arabia, and by the year 1822 the predatory 
 fleets near the Indian shore from the Konkan to Cutch 
 were suppressed, and the mischief they produced dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 Returning to the continent of India, good relations 
 were preserved all through Lord Hastings^ adminis- 
 tration with Ranjit Singh, the enlightened ruler of 
 the Sikhs at Lahore. There was, however, a tem- 
 porary difficulty with the MIrs of Sind, consequent 
 upon affairs in Cutch which will be immediately 
 noticed. The policy of the Governor-General was care- 
 fully to avoid all quarrels with tribes living beyond 
 the Indus, as being quite outside the sphere of British 
 operations. The differences with the Sind Mirs were 
 adjusted by the moderation of the Bombay Govern- 
 ment, November 1820, in a satisfactory and honour- 
 able manner, and peace was maintained on that 
 frontier. 
 
 Affairs in Cutch had, however, been in disorder for 
 
 * Wilson, viii. 456, &c.
 
 INTERNAL AFFAIRS 187 
 
 a long time ; but as they did not affect British interests, 
 there was no ground for interference, until 1813, when 
 frequent raids were made across the Eann into pro- 
 tected territory. These marauding expeditions called 
 for chastisement, and necessitated the partial subju- 
 gation of Cutch, which was not entirely accomplished 
 until 1832, when it was finally incorporated into the 
 Indian Empire, and placed under the control of the 
 paramount authority of Calcutta. 
 
 The internal tranquillity of provinces under the 
 direct rule of the Company was disturbed only slightly 
 during the nine years of Lord Hastings' administration. 
 Popular insurrections unfortunately took place at 
 Bareilly and Cuttack in 1816 and 1817 respectively, 
 which, though they caused much anxiety at the 
 time, were put down without much difficulty. In 
 the former case the cause of the disturbance was a 
 reform which was hastily introduced in the collection 
 of the police-tax, and appears to have arisen from 
 mismanagement on the part of the local authority ; in 
 the latter case, where the discontent spread over a 
 much wider area, the inhabitants had undoubted 
 grievances, and it is satisfactory to be able to record 
 that as soon as order was restored, fitting redress was 
 applied, and the discontent was allayed. 
 
 The large landowners in the Doab, called Talukdars, 
 also gave some trouble about this time, to which allu- 
 sion should be made. These local chiefs had been 
 allowed to arrogate to themselves powers of sove- 
 reignty over their tenants which were oppressive and
 
 1 88 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 called for correction ; protecting themselves by strong 
 forts, and defying the central Government of Calcutta, 
 they harboured gangs of banditti and disorganised the 
 districts over which they had usurped an unjust 
 authority. In the early part of 1817 Lord Hastings 
 put an end to their depredations by the destruction of 
 Hathras, the stronghold of the principal chief of the 
 province, and the most formidable fortress in that 
 part of India. The speedy reduction of the place was 
 of considerable importance, for it was deemed to be 
 impregnable by the natives, and a success of this kind 
 was much wanted, ' to retrieve our military character 
 in the article of sieges^.' The remaining chieftains, 
 after this, promptly submitted, and surrendered their 
 forts, eleven in number, some of which were very 
 strong, without any further resistance. All these 
 works were then dismantled, the forces belonging to 
 them were disbanded, and the Talukdars were allowed 
 to retain in their service only a few armed attendants 
 for the defence of their households 2. In this way was 
 peace re-established in the province ; but as the in- 
 cident illustrates the military ability of the Governor- 
 General, and the reforms he introduced in the Com- 
 pany's armies, it wiU perhaps be interesting to add a 
 few words upon the subject. We can best do this in 
 Lord Hastings' own words : — 
 
 ' One of my earliest military cares,' he writes in the Sum- 
 mary of his administration, just quoted, ' had been to satisfy 
 
 * Private Journal, ii. 182. 
 
 * Summary, &c., p. 13.
 
 INTERNAL AFFAIRS 1 89 
 
 myself why we had made so comparatively tinfavourable a 
 display in sieges. The details at once unfolded the cause ; 
 it is well known that nothing can be more insignificant than 
 shells thrown with long intervals ; and we never brought 
 forward more than four or five mortars where we undertook 
 the capture of a fortified place. Hence, the bombardment was 
 futile ; so that at last the issue was to be staked on mounting 
 a breach, and fighting hand to hand with a soldiery, skilful, 
 as well as gallant, in defending the prepared intrenchments. 
 This was not the oversight of the Bengal artillery officers, 
 for no men can be better instructed in the theory, or more 
 capable in the practice of their profession than they are ; it 
 was imputable to a false economy on the part of the Govern- 
 ment. The outlay, in providing for the transportation of 
 mortars, shells, and platforms, in due quantity, would 
 certainly have been considerable ; and it was on that ac- 
 count forborne. The miserable carriages of the country, 
 hired for the purpose, where a military exertion was con- 
 templated, were utterly unequal to the service, and con- 
 stantly failed under the unusual weight, in the deep roads 
 through which they had to pass. Therefore, we never sat 
 down before a place of real strength furnished with the 
 means which a proper calculation would have allotted for its 
 reduction. Sensible of this injurious deficiency, I had with 
 the utmost diligence instituted a transport train ; and it was 
 in reliance on its efficiency that I assured the Council of the 
 short resistance which Hdthras should offer. Expedition, no 
 less than secrecy, was important, to prevent any interven- 
 tions which might trouble us in the undertaking ; and not- 
 withstanding that the advance of the troops was so rapid, 
 that the Tdlukddr of Hathras had information of their 
 approach only two days before the actual investment took 
 place, forty-two mortars kept pace with the march of the 
 force ; and from the incessant shower of bombs, the garrison
 
 190 LORD HASTINGS • 
 
 was unable to persist in defending tte place more than fifteen 
 hours ^.' 
 
 It will be remembered that the Indian Government 
 was indebted to the Nawab Wazii- for the financial 
 assistance he rendered during the Nepal war. Lord 
 Hastings, whose inclinations led him to avoid inter- 
 ference in the internal affairs of native states, and who 
 was specially disposed to treat this prince with the 
 utmost forbearance, refrained from forcing reforms 
 into Oudh, which were much needed, and contented 
 himseK with expostulations, which had no efiect ; a 
 more rigorous course of action became necessary, but 
 it was not adopted until the Governor- General had 
 left India. The latter furthermore permitted the 
 Nawab to discard his old title of Wazir, or hereditary 
 chief minister to the Mughal Emperor, for that of 
 Padshah, or independent King of Oudh (1819), and 
 sanctioned the change (which was not, however, to 
 alter the relations subsisting between Lucknow and 
 Calcutta), on the ground that it would benefit British 
 interests, by dividing the Muhammadans among them- 
 selves, and by weakening the moral power of the 
 house of Timiir, which nominally reigned at Delhi. 
 The Nawab's ambition was unfavourably received by 
 his compeers, and when a similar dignity was ofiered 
 to the Nizam, he rejected it, as to accept the honour 
 was in his eyes an actof rebellion against the Emperor. 
 Although the Court of Directors concurred in the 
 policy of the Supreme Government, it is easy to see 
 
 * Summary, &c., p. 12.
 
 INTERNAL AFFAIRS I91 
 
 that the Anglo-Indian opinion was opposed to it, as a 
 step which outraged Muhammadan sentiment without 
 affording any compensating advantages ^. 
 
 The Governor-General's policy with regard to the 
 Mughal Emperor is interesting, and is explained at 
 some length in his Private Journal. In the early part 
 of 1815 he was close to Delhi, and it was intimated to 
 him that he ought to proceed there to visit that sove- 
 reign. But he refused, because ' His Majesty expected 
 my acquiescence in a ceremonial which was to imply 
 an acknowledgment that he was the liege-lord of the 
 British possessions.' He denied that the Company 
 held territory on this dependent tenure, not only 
 because he considered it was impolitic to keep up the 
 fiction that the Emperor was lord-paramount of India, 
 but because ' of the recent Act of Parliament which 
 declares the sovereignty of the Company's possession 
 to be in the British Crown.' 
 
 ' The house of Timur,' he goes on to say, 'had been put so 
 much out of sight, that all habit of adverting to it was failing 
 fast in India ; and nothing has kept the floating notion of 
 a duty owed to the imperial family but our gratuitous and 
 persevering exhibition of their pretensions — an exhibition 
 attended with much servile obeisance in the etiquette im- 
 posed upon us by the ceremonial of the court. I have 
 thence held it right to discountenance any pretension of 
 the sort, either as it applies to us or to any of the native 
 princes.' 
 
 The act of homage is in India performed by a 
 
 * Malcolm's History of India, i. 537 ; Summary, &c., p. 43.
 
 192 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 present, called Nazzur, which the inferior offers in 
 public to the superior ; it had been the habit for the 
 Resident at Delhi to present the Mughal Emperor, on 
 certain occasions, with a Nazzur, in the name of the 
 Governor-General. But Lord Hastings refused to 
 allow this custom to continue, and did away with it, 
 ' considering such a public testimony of dependence 
 and subservience as irreconcileable to any rational 
 poUcy^.' 
 
 It should, however, be stated that the Government 
 of Calcutta coined money which bore the effigy of the 
 Delhi Emperor, and that Lord Hastings appears to have 
 made no attempt to abolish this proceeding, which 
 survived until the time when the Crown formally 
 assumed the direct government of India, without the 
 interposition of the East India Company. It would 
 seem therefore that the Governor-General had no 
 leisure to go thoroughly into the question, and con- 
 tented himself by ignoring the fictitious supremacy 
 of the Mughal Emperor, and by encouraging his prin- 
 cipal vassals to throw off a technical allegiance which 
 might be eventually dangerous to British power. 
 
 It has already been remarked that one of the defects 
 of the subsidiary and protective system, introduced 
 by Wellesley and completed by Lord Hastings, was 
 the difficulty of dealing with native princes who per- 
 sistently refused to discharge the duties of government. 
 Impossible as it was to abstain from interference where 
 misrule assumed proportions which amounted to a 
 ' Private Journal, i. 318 and 323.
 
 INTERNAL AFFAIRS 1 93 
 
 public calamity, it was also very puzzling to know 
 how to apply an efficient remedy ; for, contrary as it 
 may appear to the pre-conceptions of some, it is never- 
 theless a fact that successive governments in India have 
 been extremely reluctant to absorb territory, and have 
 invariably delayed this sometimes necessary proceed- 
 ing as long as it was possible to do so. Unless, then, the 
 offending prince was deposed and another placed on 
 the throne, — obviously a step which could only be 
 taken in the most extreme and exceptional cases, — 
 either British officers had temporarily to assume the 
 administration of the country, or a native minister 
 had to be found who could take the reins of govern- 
 ment into his hands with some prospect of success. 
 The former of these alternatives was objectionable; 
 it was a violent remedy, and made it difficult to 
 revert to native rule. The latter was also highly un- 
 desirable, for it placed the country in irresponsible 
 hands, and gave the minister who was selected for 
 this delicate task — and who had naturally to be sup- 
 ported while he undertook it — ^a power and position 
 which was too often abused. An instance occurred in 
 the state of Haidarabad, which, producing painful and 
 undeserved consequences to Lord Hastings, illustrates 
 the complex problems which surrounded a Governor- 
 General of India at that time, and the difficulties of 
 his position. 
 
 The Nizam had unfortunately proved himself to be 
 utterly incapable of ruling, owing to which disor- 
 ganisation had prevailed in the principahty to sucL
 
 194 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 an extent, that it was found necessary to confide the 
 administration to the only native who seemed fitted 
 to undertake it, a man named Chandu Lai. It soon 
 became apparent that the new minister, though capable 
 and industrious, was rapacious and extravagant, and, 
 as a consequence, the finances of the state fell into 
 the utmost confusion, the inhabitants were plundered 
 and overburdened with exactions, and society became 
 demoralised and was on the verge of dissolution. 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe, who had been appointed Resi- 
 dent, November 1820, when this disorder was at its 
 height, endeavoured to control the minister, but with 
 little success, and the financial distress augmenting, it 
 became a question whether the state would not be 
 involved in bankruptcy. 
 
 Meanwhile Chandu Lai had contracted heavy debts 
 with an English firm which had been established at 
 Haidarabad under the name of Palmer and Co. It was 
 represented that this house was ready to advance 
 loans at a more reasonable rate of interest than the 
 native bankers were willing to do, and on this suppo- 
 sition, considerable sums had been lent to the Nizam 
 to relieve him of the embarrassments of his position. 
 By an Act of Parliament, passed in 1796 for the 
 purpose of checking abuses which had been occasioned 
 by Europeans in their pecuniary dealings in India, it 
 was declared illegal for British subjects to offer loans 
 to native princes, except with the express pel-mission 
 of the Governor-General; in 1816, Lord Hastings, 
 having been led to believe that the transactions of
 
 THE CASE OF PALMER AND CO. 195 
 
 the firm with the court of Haidarabad were beneficial 
 to the latter and to the Company, granted the neces- 
 sary consent ; but he also stipulated that the Supreme 
 Government could not undertake any pledge for the 
 security of the sums advanced, or become entangled in 
 discussions with the Nizam for the recovery of the 
 debt. 
 
 In May, 1820, Chandu Lai proposed for the Resi- 
 dent's sanction the negotiation with Palmer and Co, 
 of a much larger loan than usual, amounting to sixty 
 lakhs of rupees, and asserted that the money was' 
 required for objects that clearly seemed to benefit 
 the Nizam. The necessary authority was granted, 
 but on the facts becoming known to the Court of 
 Du-ectors, they, remembering past abuses, disapproved 
 of all the transactions with the firm in question, and 
 directed that the Governor-General's consent should 
 be withdrawn. These instructions were obeyed ; but 
 the suspicions of Sir Charles Metcalfe, (who by 
 this time had reached Haidarabad), being aroused, 
 he proceeded to examine into the afiairs of the 
 principality, and he was startled to find that the 
 large sums obtained from Palmer and Co., which 
 reached to nearly a million sterling, were wasted, and 
 had been improperly applied, and that the exactions 
 made upon the wretched inhabitants were still 
 continued with unrelenting rigour. Thereupon a 
 strict inquiry was instituted, and it was then ascer- 
 tained that the dealings of this financial house formed 
 no exception to those which the Act (already 
 
 N 2
 
 ig6 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 mentioned) had been framed to prohibit, that the rate 
 of interest was exorbitant, and as much as 24 per cent., 
 and that the sixty lakhs had not been applied to the 
 purposes for which they had been ostensibly borrowed. 
 When these facts were realised^ the Indian Govern- 
 ment withdrew its countenance from the firm, the 
 minister was directed to close his account there, and 
 a tribute payable to the Nizam by the Company for 
 the possession of the Northern Circars was capitahsed 
 into the necessary million, to liberate the court of 
 Haidarabad from all further business with the house of 
 Palmer and Co. 
 
 Until the scandal was revealed, Lord Hastings 
 had ail this time been fii-mly convinced that these 
 financial transactions constituted the best and indeed 
 the only feasible expedient for extricating the Nizam's 
 principality from its embarrassments, and for re-estab- 
 lishing it in a state of solvency ; in consenting to 
 countenance a European house of business, he relied 
 altogether upon the judgment of the former Resident, 
 who strongly recommended the adoption of the course 
 pursued, and whose official position, long experience, 
 and intimate knowledge of the Nizam's afiairs might 
 be trusted to form a sound and impartial opinion on 
 the subject. Such was the Governor-General's confi- 
 dence in the discretion of the Political Agent and in 
 his own decisions, that he was slow to believe that 
 this opinion was faulty, or that he himself could be 
 mistaken; and when Sir Charles Metcalfe represented 
 the true state of the case, he came at first to the hasty
 
 THE CASE OF PALMER AND CO. 1 97 
 
 and erroneous conclusion that the investigation was 
 imperfectly conducted and based upon prejudice. As 
 soon however as he suspected the truth, he hastened 
 to condemn what he had formerly approved, and 
 expressed his strong sense of the impropriety which 
 had been committed. But his reluctance to acknow- 
 ledge an error had been misunderstood, and when he 
 avowed a remote interest in the prosperity of the firm 
 (by imprudently declaring that one of the partners, 
 husband of his ward to whom he was much attached, 
 was a friend he would be glad to serve), a forced and 
 unjust construction was put on the avowal which 
 was wholly unauthorised by the facts. 
 
 Nor is it improbable that many of the members of 
 the Court of Directors were not indisposed to seize 
 the opportunity to attack a Governor-General whose. 
 policy they deeply resented, but whose success they 
 were forced to applaud. And thus it came about 
 that an unjustifiable conclusion was hastily formed, 
 to the efiect that he had been influenced by personal 
 motives in countenancing the financial operations of 
 Palmer and Co. No accusation to this effect was made, 
 but the very indirectness of the charge made it the 
 more difficult to refute, and weighed heavily upon a 
 man who, whatever his faults might have been, had 
 nothing sordid in his character, and who was ever 
 conspicuous for uprightness, and for the scrupulous 
 honesty of all his acts. It is easy to conceive 
 how such a suspicion must have wounded deeply the 
 sensitive and proud nature of a person of Lord
 
 198 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 Hastings' temperament, who, conscious of no fault, 
 found himself thus assailed in a way that touched 
 him to the quick. 
 
 An angry correspondence ensued, and in 1835, after 
 a stormy debate in the Court of Proprietors, the com- 
 munications from the Board of Directors to the Bengal 
 Government on this subject were approved by a large 
 majority. The proceedings were painful, and dis- 
 played a latent spirit of ungenerous antipathy to 
 one whose career was spotless and who was smarting 
 under the mortification of having been himself 
 deceived. But they were useful, for they entirely 
 vindicated Lord Hastings' integrity, in a manner 
 which — in view of the imputation suggested — was 
 necessary, and which nothing else could have done so 
 amply and conclusively. 
 
 The Directors, while making captious and irrelevant 
 criticisms, adopted too often, in this unfortunate 
 episode, atone of suspicion and resentment towards an 
 exalted oificial and conspicuously successful statesman, 
 for which it is difficult to account. But on the other 
 hand, it is indisputable that, with greater experience 
 than the Governor-General of the corrupting in- 
 fluences which India too often exercised over some 
 Europeans in the early days of British occupation 
 there, they exercised a wise discretion in putting an 
 end to the financial transactions, even before they 
 found out the impropriety which had been practised ; 
 and by the zeal they displayed to purge their public 
 administration of abuses, they discharged a duty of
 
 THE CASE OF PALMER AND CO. 199 
 
 no small importance to the Company's welfare and of 
 the greatest consequence to the natives subjected to 
 British rule ^. 
 
 ' Wilson, viii. 486, &c., from which this account has been mainly 
 taken ; Auber, ii. 559 ; Marshman, ii. 368. Prinsep attributes 
 some of the difficulties that occurred in Haidarabad to the fact 
 that an irresponsible minister, even with the assistance of an able 
 British Resident, is unable to supervise the affairs of so large a 
 principality as that belonging to the Nizam. Prinsep, ii. 414.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Administrative Reforms; Conclusion; Lord 
 Hastings' Work in India 
 
 Besides the many changes, reconstituting funda- 
 mentally British rule in India, which marked the 
 period 1813-23, reforms were also introduced in the 
 domestic administration of the country that cannot 
 be altogether passed over. The East India Company 
 had been from time to time subjected to certain 
 alterations in the Royal Charter which controlled its 
 rights and defined its duties in the territories that 
 were assigned to its management. In 18 13 a new 
 Charter was granted to which allusion has been 
 incidentally made in the Fourth Chapter of this 
 volume ^ ; before granting it, however, a searching 
 inquiry had been held into the whole of the 
 Company's administration ; and as the conclusion 
 arrived at was that the Judicial and Revenue systems 
 were capable of improvement, it was proposed to 
 reform them as soon as possible. Lord Hastings was 
 not the man to delay useful work of this nature, and 
 his natural desire to remove grievances as well as his 
 indomitable energy both urged him to correct abuses 
 
 * See ante, p. 83,
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 201 
 
 and to introduce measures which were calculated to 
 bring about the prosperity and the happiness of the 
 people committed to his charge. 
 
 It should be premised that domestic policy, in- 
 cluding judicial and fiscal administration, diflfered in 
 the three Presidencies, and that these matters were 
 independently controlled by the governments which 
 had been established there. It should further be 
 observed that British rule having prevailed in the 
 provinces of Bengal for a longer time than had been 
 the case elsewhere, a certain policy had been already 
 adopted, which rendered any sweeping reform more 
 difficult of execution than in the territories which 
 had only lately come under the Company's govern- 
 ment. Hence when changes were found to be 
 necessary they could only be gradually introduced, 
 and extreme caution had to be taken to ensure the 
 people against the evils that invariably follow a 
 hasty or ill-considered amendment in the established 
 laws and customs. In Madras and Bombay, govern- 
 ment had a freer hand, and the experience already 
 gained in Bengal enabled the authorities in these two 
 Presidencies to respond with greater promptitude to 
 the necessities of the position, as well as to the 
 suggestions which were made in England. 
 
 The fii'st point we shall mention is the business in 
 the courts of Civil Judicature, where by reason of the 
 paucity of the judges, of the increasing number and 
 prosperity of the inhabitants, and of the popularity of 
 the tribunals under British control, work was much
 
 aoa LORD HASTINGS 
 
 in arrears ^. It was not easy to augment the number 
 of English judges, for the cost of maintaining Euro- 
 peans who were not indigenous to the country was 
 prohibitory to any such arrangement. Natives had 
 certainly been invested with judicial powers ever 
 since 1793, but as they were badly paid and kept in 
 an unduly subordinate position, they lost their self- 
 respect and became too often inefficient and corrupt. 
 To correct this state of things, the Board of Control 
 proposed that the old native institutions should be 
 revived by restoring the functions of the village 
 head-men and local arbitrators, called Panchayats. 
 
 The Government of Bengal found the proposal 
 impracticable, for these institutions had been partially 
 destroyed by the revenue settlements that had been 
 made in the Presidency ; a remedy therefore was 
 sought in another direction, viz. by improving the 
 pay and position of the native judges, by enlarging 
 their powers, by subjecting them to more efficient 
 supervision, and by adding to their number. The 
 instructions from home were however carried out in 
 Madras, where the village organization was in better 
 state of preservation ; but the result was curious, for 
 the people preferred the native and English tribunals 
 and deserted those provided for them in their own 
 communities. In Bombay, however, where no other 
 
 * In i8ro there were 135,553 cases pending, but in 1815 the 
 number decreased to 108,286, making nevertheless a formidable 
 list of arrears ; Wilson, viii. 509. See, moreover, p. 508, &c. of 
 this volume, from which the greater part of this chapter has been 
 taken.
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 203 
 
 form of arbitration was known, the courts of the 
 head-men and Panchayats were not similarly deserted, 
 and the proposals emanating from England were not 
 unsuccessful. 
 
 The Board of Control also came to the conclusion 
 that it would be expedient to undo the administration 
 established by Lord Cornwallis (who separated the 
 functions of the Collectors from those of the criminal 
 Judges), and to re-unite in one person fiscal and police 
 duties ; in order to carry out this reform, it was more- 
 over necessary to vest the zamindars with authority, 
 and to give additional powers to the native revenue 
 officers. The Government of Bengal in this instance 
 also found the proposed change unadvisable, as calcu- 
 lated to oppress the people ; for it was not believed 
 that the rapacity of the native element could be 
 restrained from exacting more than was due ^. The 
 following remarks from Lord Hastings' Private Journal 
 touches upon this subject, and may be reproduced, to 
 show how disastrous it would have been to increase 
 the powers of the zamindars over the people : — 
 
 ' It was assumed that the zaminddrs were the real land- 
 owners, and that, commanding as such the attachment of the 
 peasantry, they would insure the adherence of the latter to 
 our government if their interest in the land were secured from 
 precariousness or extortion. On this principle the proprietary 
 rights of the zamindar to the tract under his management 
 was declared, subject to his paying in perpetuity to govern- 
 
 * Examples of organised rapacity of the native officers are given 
 in the Private Journal, ii. 106 ; see also Marshman, ii. 361.
 
 204 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 ment a quit-rent settled generally by the rate at whicli he 
 was actually assessed ... It was forgotten that he was not 
 the cultivator, and no pi'otection was given to the rayat, the 
 real tiller (perhaps the real proprietor) of the soil, against 
 the oppressive exactions of the zaminddr, whose actual de- 
 pendent he was made by this settlement. In fact, the 
 zaminddr was originally nothing more than the contractor 
 with the native government for the rent of a certain district. 
 . . . "Where the rent demanded from him was high, he looked 
 to discharge it as well as provide for his own maintenance 
 by squeezing the r^yat ^' 
 
 The changes introduced into the criminal system in 
 Bengal were therefore confined to an enlargement of 
 the powers (with increased supervision) of the native 
 magistrates, enabling them to deal with case^ which 
 had hitherto been decided by the Circuit Judges, and 
 to the introduction of an improved set of police 
 regulations, with the object of securing greater activity 
 and of guarding against abuses of power which had 
 too often taken place. In Madras and Bombay, how- 
 ever, the condition of the people was different, and the 
 new criminal system recommended from home was 
 established in those Presidencies. 
 
 In alluding to the principles which guided fiscal 
 policy, it should be remembered that Asiatic revenue 
 differs from European taxation, where certain imposts, 
 and no more, are laid upon the people for the sole 
 purpose of defraying the public services of the nation. 
 In India, on the contrary, the revenue is a fixed and 
 
 * Private Journal, ii. 62,
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS <X0^ 
 
 constant quantity, and is the property of the ruler, 
 who utilizes it, or as much of it as he thinks necessary, 
 to maintain the administration of the state. In the 
 former case, Government is the trustee of the people, 
 liable to be called to account and to find its supplies 
 cut off ; whereas in the latter, the sovereign is their 
 master or irresponsible protector, liable indeed to be 
 checked by violence, but whose taxes cannot be 
 legally withheld. In the East, the revenue is derived 
 mainly from a contribution levied off the land, the 
 remainder being raised by monopohes, and partially 
 by indirect taxation such as prevails in Europe. The 
 contributions from the land and monopolies may of 
 course vary, but the principle is unchangeable, and 
 in so far the revenue cannot alter ^. 
 
 In the lower Bengal provinces, the land revenue 
 had already been assessed (1793) by a permanent 
 settlement, and here little change took place during 
 the period, 1813-23, now under review. But where 
 no permanent settlement had existed, the Governor- 
 General found that, owing to the absence of proper 
 surveys, great injustice would have been done had 
 it been introduced too hastily. Opposed as he was 
 to the zamlndari system, he found it impossible to 
 contract directly with the numerous cultivators in 
 districts where a teeming population existed, and 
 accordingly engagements were made with the repre- 
 sentatives of each village community for the whole of 
 the government's claim. The community itself assessed 
 
 * Prinsep, ii. 422.
 
 2o6 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 the peasants for their proper share, subject to an 
 appeal in the courts, if there was a dispute. The 
 practice thus adopted appeared to be satisfactory, 
 and it was rendered the more so by the vigorous 
 efforts made to correct all abuses which manifested 
 themselves. Meanwhile active steps were also taken 
 to ascertain accurately the state and value of the 
 land, the boundaries and nature of private rights, 
 and the tenures of the various persons who were 
 interested. It is evident that this information — 
 necessary for the conclusion of an equitable settle- 
 ment — could not be gained immediately, and though 
 only acquired and digested long after the period in 
 which we are now concerned, the fact that this great 
 and important work was promoted in Lord Hastings' 
 time deserves mention in this volume. 
 
 In the Madras Presidency, Sir Thomas Munro, who 
 became Governor in 1 820, introduced and carried the 
 rayatwari system — by which the cultivators of the 
 soil became the direct payers of revenue, without 
 the intervention of either a zamindar or the village 
 community — and this form of tenure prevails to the 
 present day ^ ; at the same time the peasants were 
 relieved of unjust exactions to which in the past 
 they had been obliged to submit. In Bombay, 
 Government was principally occupied in making in- 
 vestigations, and the settlement begun was founded 
 on the village system, where the head-men made the 
 
 ^ See Hunter's Indian Empire, Sfc., Ed. 1882, p. 340.
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 207 
 
 assessment, subject to certain restraints to prevent 
 oppression. 
 
 The general financial results achieved by Lord 
 Hastings were highly satisfactory, and despite the 
 difficulties which surrounded Government in 18 13, 
 show a marked and decided improvement on that 
 year, both in increased receipts and in efficiency of 
 administration. The charges upon Government had 
 also naturally increased, but in a less proportion to 
 the additional revenue acquired, so that after pro- 
 viding for the public debt, a clear surplus of more 
 than three millions sterling had been obtained, and 
 this notwithstanding the fact that two wars of the 
 first magnitude had been undertaken, the cost of 
 which weighed heavily upon the resources of the 
 country. The following short table will show this 
 
 account :■— 
 
 1813-14. 1822-23. 
 
 Eeceipts £17,228,000 23,120,000 
 
 Expenditure (charges, interest on 
 
 public debt, &c.) . . . 15,270,000 19,776,000 
 
 Surplus .... £1,958,000 3,344,000^ 
 Increase receipts in 1822-23 over 1813-14, £5,892,000. 
 
 The increasing prosperity showed itself in many 
 ways. The Government bonds which in 1813 were 
 twelve per cent, discount, stood at a premium of 
 
 * Wilson, viii. Appendix vii. The military charges 1809-10 to 
 1813-14 averaged £7,344,000 ; in the next two years (Nepal War^ 
 £8,840,000 ; in the next five years (Maratha War) £9,770,000 ; 
 and in 1822-23 £8,405,000. Ihkl. viii. 561.
 
 ^ao8 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 fourteen per cent, in 1823. More supplies were sent 
 to England ; for while during the twenty years pre- 
 ceding 1813, an average of not quite half a million 
 had been sent home, during the eight years beginning 
 with 1814 the average was a little over "a million 
 sterling, and during the five years 181 4-1 8, inclusive, 
 it had been a much larger amount. The public debt 
 had certainly increased by about five millions and a 
 half ; but the cash balances in the various treasuries 
 in 1821 exceeded the sum in hand in 1814, by six 
 millions and a quarter. The additional debt, raised 
 during Lord Hastings' administration, might have 
 been easily paid ofij but the Governor-General 
 ' deemed it highly impolitic to break a tie which so 
 obviously secures the attachment of the monied class 
 to our government, in a country where that class has 
 peculiar influence.' He observed, moreover, that the 
 native princes were investing their money in Indian 
 securities, 'a motive the more for them to abstain 
 from intrigues against us.' These advantages were 
 gained without the imposition of any new tax, ' while 
 several teasing demands were abolished, as well in 
 the old provinces as in the acquired territories,' and 
 without cui'tailing the expenditure devoted to public 
 works for the development of the country ^. 
 
 ' The government of India,' says Mr. Wilson, ' overcame all 
 its financial difficulties, and upon the restoration of peace was 
 provided with ample means to meet every demand. At no 
 
 * Summary, &c., p. 29, &c. ; Marshman, li. 364,
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 209 
 
 previous period in the history of the country was the credit 
 of the British Government more firmly established, or was 
 the prospect of financial prosperity more promising than at 
 the commencement of 1823, when the Marquess of Hastings 
 retired from the guidance of the pecuniary interests of 
 India V 
 
 Very few chaplains, amounting to only thirty-two 
 in the whole of India, were provided for the spiritual 
 needs of the numerous English population that was 
 constrained to live in Asia in the Company's service ; 
 this matter had not escaped notice, and Lord Hastings 
 frequently observes in his Private Journal with regret 
 and surprise, that there was an almost entire absence 
 of places of worship in the country. The renewal of 
 the Charter in 1 8 1 3 gave an opportunity for applying 
 a remedy to this state of things, and the matter was 
 not neglected ; though the measures taken effected 
 little with respect to conversions, yet they gave an 
 impetus to general education among the natives. The 
 Governor-General cordially approved of this latter 
 work, promoted it in every way in his power, and 
 established schools out of his own private means. 
 He was the first to encourage the moral and in- 
 tellectual improvement of the natives, and his views 
 on the subject were altogether in advance of Indian 
 officials of his time. 
 
 Soon after the Nepal war he took an early oppor- 
 tunity of proclaiming his anxiety to raise the people 
 
 * Wilson, viii. 564. 
 O
 
 aio LORD HASTINGS 
 
 committed to his care by education, and his repudia- 
 tion of the narrow policy which unfortunately ani- 
 mated so many Europeans who lived in India. 
 
 ' This Government,' he said, * will never be influenced by 
 the erroneous position that to spread information among 
 men is to render them less tractable and less submissive to 
 authority. ... It would be treason against British sentiment 
 to imagine that it ever could be the principle of this Govern- 
 ment to perpetuate ignorance in order to secure paltry and 
 dishonest advantages over the blindness of the multitude \' 
 
 Again, commenting upon some brutal and de- 
 liberate crimes commited by sepoys he says : — 
 
 ' The gain of four or five rupees or the gratification of the 
 most petty pique, seems quite enough to urge the sepoy to 
 the cold-blooded murder of his fellow-soldier and intimate 
 companion. The cause lies in this, that the perpetrator has 
 no conception of the atrocity of the act. Let this be the 
 answer to those who contend that it is unwise to disseminate 
 instruction among the multitude. Absence of instioiction 
 necessarily implies destitution of morality. God be praised, 
 we have been successful in extinguishing a system of rapine 
 which was not only the unremitting scourge of an immense 
 population, but depraved its habits by example, and inflicted 
 necessities, while it stood an obstacle to every kind of im- 
 provement. It is befitting the British name and character 
 that advantage should be taken of the opening which we 
 have effected, and that establishments should be introduced 
 or stimulated by us which may rear a rising generation in 
 some knowledge of social duties V 
 
 ^ Marshman, ii. 357. 
 
 " Private Journal, ii. 325.
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 21 1 
 
 These views joined to the general liberality of his 
 character led him to remove the restrictions which 
 had before his time fettered the freedom of the Indian 
 press ; he moreover allowed newspapers to circulate 
 at a reduced rate of postage, and it was during his 
 administration that the first native journal appeared 
 in print. 
 
 Keenly interesting himself in all with whom he 
 came into contact, he endeavoured to raise the officers 
 of the Company's armies to a higher status than they 
 enjoyed, more befitting their position. Wielding great 
 power, incurring grave responsibilities, engaged in sub- 
 jecting a vast continent to the rule of their country, 
 their services were often unrequited and their military 
 rank, in many cases, corresponded inadequately with 
 the onerous functions they were called upon to dis- 
 charge. Just before the Maratha war, some of the 
 commanders of divisions, who up to that time had 
 never been given a higher rank than that of colonel, 
 were promoted brigadier-generals ; and when the ex- 
 tension of the Order of the Bath was instituted, 
 fifteen officers of the Indian forces were raised to the 
 dignity of Knight Commander, on account of the 
 'eminent services which have been rendered to the 
 empire ' by that army. Sir D. Ochterlony was sub- 
 sequently invested (March, 1818) by Lord Hastings 
 with the ribbon of the Grand Cross, who pronounced 
 upon that occasion the following words : — 
 
 ' You have obliterated a distinction painful for the officers 
 of the Honourable Company, and you have opened the door 
 
 O %
 
 aia LORD HASTINGS 
 
 for your brothers in arms to a reward whicli their recent 
 display of exalted spirit and invincible intrepidity proves 
 could not be more deservedly extended to the officers of any 
 army on earth ^.' 
 
 Nor was it only the Europeans to whom he sought 
 to render justice. Rising above the prejudices of the 
 day, he admitted to Government House those half- 
 castes, whose position entitled them to consideration, 
 and endeavoured to gain their good- will by proving 
 to them that, at all events in his eyes, colour was no 
 bar to his favour. Half-castes were in a peculiar 
 position ; and many of them, though in strong sym- 
 pathy with British ideas, were despised and ungen- 
 erously treated by the European community; and yet 
 as they had entire knowledge of native prejudices 
 and were in intimate relations with popular senti- 
 ments, they formed no unimportant link between the 
 governing classes and the governed. Lord Hastings 
 adopted a course that might be expected from a man 
 of his enlightened character, and rewarded those who 
 were in the public service, and who deserved it, by 
 promoting them to a position which would enable 
 them to give their best services to the British 
 Government. He tells the story with regard to a 
 celebrated leader of Irregular horse, a half-caste, in 
 the following manner : — 
 
 ' I then desired to see Captain Skinner. Private informa- 
 tion had been given me that he had become dissatisfied with 
 
 ' Thornton's British Empire in India, p. 456.
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS 213 
 
 our service and proposed to riesign. He is a half-caste, and 
 was formerly in the ifardthd service. On the war breaking 
 out with them (the second Mardthi war), he quitted their 
 service in consequence of the proclamation recalling all 
 British subjects, was employed by us, and much distinguished 
 himself by his enterprise, his intrepidity, and his judgment. 
 At the peace the corps commanded by him was kept in pay, 
 and he was retained at its head, at the frontier station of 
 Hdnsi. The equity and the strict observance of every 
 promise which had marked Captain Skinner for many years, 
 had obtained for him a prodigious influence among the 
 natives. The loss of such a man would be serious, especially 
 as there was little probability that he could reconcile his 
 mind to idleness, and it is sure that he would have most 
 tempting offers from Holkar or Sindhia. His discontent 
 arose from this, that the officers of Irregulars have no rank 
 but in their own corps. Hence, if the garrison of native 
 infantry at H4nsi be reduced (as has often been the case) 
 to a subaltern's party. Captain Skinner must find himself 
 under the orders of possibly a very inexperienced youth. 
 I affected not to know anything of the dispositions which he 
 had indulged ; but, beginning by a compliment to the state 
 of his coi'ps, I told him I wished to give a public mark of my 
 estimation of his character. I therefore requested he would 
 assume the honorary title of Lieutenant-Colonel ; and I ap- 
 prized him of my intention to propose to Government that 
 Buch a rank in the Irregulars should entitle the officer holding 
 it to rank as youngest field-officer of the line, and to command 
 all captains and subalterns. I explained that as battalions 
 were often commanded by captains, it would be easy to 
 compose such a corps for an irregular officer in whom one 
 had confidence, as might enable him to achieve actions 
 meriting the highest distinctions and recompense. He ap- 
 peared extraordinarily gratified, and with peculiar earnest-
 
 214 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 ness entreated me to rely on Ms unreserved devotion. To 
 understand this warmth of feeling, one ought to know the 
 excessive depression in which half-castes are held by the 
 Company's servants^/ 
 
 A brief note should not be omitted in this volume, 
 to record the public works which were undertaken 
 during the administration under review. Roads, 
 bridges, and canals were constructed or repaired, and 
 the communications throughout the country were im- 
 proved, by which the internal commerce was promoted 
 and agricultural industry encouraged. Delhi, in the 
 last century, had been supplied with good water by a 
 canal which the Mughals had made ; but the works 
 had fallen into decay for many a long year, and as 
 the Jumna, on which the city is situated, passes over 
 great beds of natron, the inhabitants were condemned 
 to use the brackish water which was all they could 
 get. Lord Hastings caused this canal to be opened up, 
 and thus Delhi was indebted to him for a gratuitous 
 and plentiful supply of pure water drawn from the 
 spot where the Jumna issues from the mountains, 
 before it enters into the plains. He also restored 
 two other canals, one, which ran into the province of 
 Hariana, and another which traversed the Doab. 
 The districts moreover through which these water- 
 courses went, were once again rendered fit for human 
 habitation. 
 
 Calcutta, the seat of government, was in a very 
 unhealthy state, and though Lord Wellesley had done 
 
 ^ Private Journal, i. 293.
 
 HIS WORK IN INDIA 21 5 
 
 a good deal to improve the town when he was 
 Governor-General, his works and plans were sus- 
 pended after he left India. Lord Hastings, however, 
 turned his attention to this subject, and having made 
 an investigation into the causes of its unsanitary con- 
 dition, he devoted lai-ge sums of money in beautifying 
 the town, in rendering it more healthy and more 
 adapted to the requirements of Eastern life, and in 
 erecting a handsome embankment along the river. 
 He further planned the construction of a secure 
 water-way between the mouth of the Hugli and 
 Calcutta, where there were dangerous shoals, which 
 impeded the navigation and obstructed the free cir- 
 culation of trade to the Indian capital *. 
 
 There was scarcely a matter of any importance 
 connected with India in which Lord Hastings did 
 not exhibit a profound interest, and his extraordinary 
 energy forced him to attempt to regulate every ques- 
 tion that presented itself before him. In spite of his 
 age, no man ever worked harder than he, or devoted 
 himself more unremittingly to his duties, and he con- 
 tinued his labours without intermission, during the 
 nine years he remained at the head of the government 
 which was intrusted to his care. 
 
 In short, his administration marks an epoch in the 
 internal development of the country, when the finances 
 were put in order, when India was brought more 
 closely within the fold of the national family, and 
 when the foundations of domestic reform were laid. 
 * Marshman, ii. 375 ; Summary, &c., 36.
 
 21 6 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 From this time forward, the native has been taken 
 by the hand, his moral well-being has been regarded 
 as a duty, and gradually has he been brought into 
 contact with European ideas of social duties, and 
 prepared for the reception of a higher form of 
 civilization. 
 
 All this progress cannot be justly ascribed to the 
 personal initiative of the Governor- General ; but the 
 measures that produced it had his cordial assent, and 
 were advocated and promoted by his expansive 
 sympathy and zealous industry. His title to the 
 gratitude of the nation does not however rest upon 
 these achievements, great though they were ; but is 
 founded on a higher claim, namely, on what he did 
 for the consolidation of the Indian Empire. 
 
 When he reached Calcutta, English possessions were 
 disjointed and fragmentary, long frontiers had to be 
 guarded and maintained, communications between the 
 parts were uncertain and difficult, rapid access to 
 many of the provinces impossible. These territories 
 were in contact with turbulent and hostile neigh- 
 bours, and were exposed to the desolating effects of 
 unchecked violence, and to the ruin and misery 
 caused by inroads of predatory hordes. The Maratha 
 communities were in a state of anarchy, their rule 
 was one of devastation, it was continually destroying 
 and never repairing^. The numerous bands of free- 
 booters and mercenary troops that infested the country 
 crushed the inhabitants and sorely embarrassed govern- 
 * Opinion of Sir T. Munro ; Auber, ii. 529.
 
 HIS WORK IN INDIA 21 7 
 
 ment within the Company's borders. Development 
 was checked, peace was precarious, and the stability of 
 British authority was in imminent peril of being over- 
 turned and annihilated. 
 
 All this was changed by the Marquess of Hastings. 
 The hostility of Nepdl was overcome, and the northern 
 frontier was secured. The Maratha combination against 
 British rule and the predatory system which threatened 
 the Company's territories were annihilated. Central 
 India was settled and pacified. In a word, the inde- 
 pendent native states who conceived in 1813 that they 
 could expel the English from India were defeated, and 
 in 1823 every prince in that vast region up to the 
 Sutlej was brought into subjection to the Government 
 of Calcutta ^. 
 
 Wellesley had had a similar problem to face, and he 
 originated a vigorous policy to solve it ; he put his 
 plans into execution, but he was not allowed to con- 
 clude them. Lord Hastings was theoretically opposed 
 to this policy; yet he had hardly set foot in India, 
 before he realised its importance and its absolute 
 necessity, if the British nation were to continue its 
 mission in the East. 
 
 ' It was by preponderance of power,' he wrote to England 
 in 181 5, 'that those mines of wealth had been acquired for 
 the Company's treasure, and by preponderance of power 
 alone could they be retained. The supposition that the 
 British power could discard the means of strength and yet 
 enjoy the fruits of it, was one that would certainly be speedily 
 
 * Summary, &c., p. 35,
 
 21 8 LORD HASTINGS 
 
 dissipated ; in the state of India, were we to be feeble our 
 rule would be a dream, and a very short one ^.' 
 
 The scheme for producing the pacification of India 
 was not his conception; but having approved of its 
 merit, he adopted it as his own, and, more fortunate 
 than his great predecessor, he was able to take large 
 and comprehensive measures to bring it to a successful 
 conclusion. Essentially a man of action, his resolute 
 will bore down all opposition to his well-matured 
 plans. The breadth of his policy, the vigour of his 
 intellect, the sagacity of his measures, and the skill 
 of his operations,^ surprised his enemies, overcame 
 their resistance, reconciled them to his authority, and 
 efiected his purpose in every detail. 
 
 The Indian Continent was reduced to order, the ir- 
 regularities in the Company's territories were gradually 
 removed, its possessions were consolidated, and the 
 paramount position of England was assured. The settle- 
 ment which the Marquess of Hastings made has been 
 modified, but it has never been undone ; his work was 
 thorough, far-reaching and comprehensive. Modern 
 India is largely based upon the results which he 
 attained. The period of his administration forms an 
 era in the history of our advance in the East, which 
 marks the end of a halting policy and the dawn 
 of a new order, when Great Britain finally assumed 
 undivided responsibility for, and supreme control 
 over, the Empire of Continental India. 
 
 * Auber, ii. 552.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Adams, Gen. J, W., commanded 
 a brigade in Nepjll war, 76 : 
 fifth division of the Southern 
 Grand Army, 112: first move- 
 ments, 118: harassed Pindiirls 
 in their flight, 121 : further 
 movements against the Pind^rfs, 
 134: defeated Karim, 136: oc- 
 cupied districts ceded by the 
 Bhonsla, 138: defeated the 
 Peshw^ at Seonf, 149 : acted 
 against Apa Saliib (1818), 155. 
 
 Ajmere ceded by Sindhia to the 
 Company (181S), 175. 
 
 Almora, capture of, 72, 73. 
 
 Amar Singh, Guikha general, 65 : 
 defeat and surrender of, 74. 
 
 American War of Independence, 
 Hastings' services in, 14-24. 
 
 Amir Khan, his relations with 
 Holkar, 49 : the Bhonsla Eaj;l, 
 saved from, 50: the chief Pathdn 
 leader, 55 : attitude during 
 Gurkha war, 67, 68 : Jaipur 
 appeals for protection against, 
 94: offered principality of Tonk, 
 109: treaty made with, 128: 
 his troops disbanded, 129. 
 
 Anand Eao, Gaekwar, death of, 
 179. 
 
 Anti- Jacobin, the, quoted on 
 Hastings, 31 n, 32 n. 
 
 Apa Sahib becomes regent of 
 Niigpur and signs treaty with 
 the English, 93 : position at 
 outbreak of Pind;(ri war, 100 : 
 becomes R^ja of Nagpur, 107 : 
 surrenders after battle of Slta- 
 bdldl, 127; signs treaty with 
 
 Jenkins, 128: his intrigues, 146 : 
 made prisoner, 147 : deposed, 
 1 54 : escapes from custody, 1 54, 
 155: raises an army, 155: be- 
 sieged in Asirgarh, 156 : dies 
 in Rajput^na, 157. 
 
 Arabia, expedition against the 
 pirates of, 1S6. 
 
 Arabs, their gallantry at Sfta- 
 b^Idi, 126: and NiCgpur, 127: 
 at Koregaon, 139, 140: collect 
 at Ch;lnda to support the Pesh- 
 wa, 146 : mostly expelled from 
 Imlia by Elphinstone, 177. 
 
 Akki, Ochterlony defeats the 
 Gurkhas at, 65. 
 
 Ashti, the Peshwii defeated at, 
 
 145- 
 AsiRGARH summoned by Do veton, 
 117: taken (1819), 156: re- 
 tained by the English, 175. 
 
 Baji Eao : see PeshwI. 
 
 Bancroft, G., his accusations 
 against the conduct of English 
 military officers in America, 22, 
 
 23- 
 
 Bareilly, insurrection at (1816), 
 187. 
 
 Barlow, Sir G. H., tries to con- 
 ciliate the Gurkhas, 58. 
 
 Baroda, negotiations between the 
 Gaekwar and the Peshwil, 87, 
 88: Keir recalled to, 131: 
 fresh treaty made with, 1 79. 
 
 Bassein, Treaty of (1802), 46, 51, 
 
 Batwal, seizure of, a cause of the 
 Gurkha war, 58.
 
 220 
 
 INDEX 
 
 BelgIum taken by Munro, 152. 
 Betul, Ap^ S^hib collects an 
 
 army at, 155. 
 Bhonsla Raja : see A.vk Sahib, 
 
 Nagpur, Pursaji, Raghujf, 
 Bhopal attacked by Sindhia, 50, 
 
 86 : treaty with the English 
 proposed and abandoned, 86, 
 
 87 : applies to Hastings for pro- 
 tection, 92 : treaty concluded 
 with, 103 : rewarded at close of 
 MarathSi war, 167, 168. 
 
 BilIspur, E^jil of, reduced by 
 
 Ochterlony, 65. 
 Brooklyn, Hastings at the capture 
 
 of, 15. 
 Beown, Gen. Sir Thomas, com- 
 manded first division of the 
 
 Isorthem Grand Army, ill: 
 
 and light division against the 
 
 Pindiirls_(i8i8), 135. 
 BuNDi, E^jd. of, relations of the 
 
 Mar^th^s with, 165, 166: treaty 
 
 concluded with, 169. 
 Bunker's Hill, Hastings at battle 
 
 of, 14. 
 BuRGOYNE, Gen. John, his praise 
 
 of Hastings, 15. 
 Burma, Hastings' relations with, 
 
 183, 184. 
 Burr, Col., commanded at battle 
 
 of Kirkl, 121, 122: sends for 
 
 reinforcements, 139. 
 
 Calcutta, Hastings' efforts to im- 
 prove, 215. 
 Camden, Hastings at battle of, 
 
 17- 
 Catawba, action on the, 18. 
 Ceylon, reduction of, 184. 
 Chandu Lal, minister of the 
 
 Niz^m, 194, 195. 
 Chaplains, increase in the number 
 
 of, in India, 209. 
 Charleston, Hastings at capture 
 
 of, 16 : concentrated his troops 
 
 at, 20-22. 
 China, asserts right to interfere 
 
 in Nepdl, 82, 83. 
 Chitu, Pinddrf leader, 52 : at- 
 tempted to combine with other 
 
 leaders, 116: pursued by Mal- 
 colm, 118: joins Holkar's army, 
 130 : defeated and fled, 136 : 
 eaten by a tiger, 137: refused 
 admission into Aslrgarh, 156. 
 
 Cholera checks operations of the 
 Northern Grand Army, 119. 
 
 Clarence, Hastings denied title 
 of Marquess of, 38. 
 
 Clerfayt, Gen., his compliment 
 to Hastings, 28. 
 
 Clinton, Gen. Sir H., Hastings 
 appointed aide-de-camp to, 15. 
 
 Cochin China, mission sent to, 
 186. 
 
 CoRNWALLis,Gen. Lord, Hastings' 
 services under, in the American 
 War of Independence, 15-19: 
 his remarks on Hastings' pro- 
 posed ministry, 30. 
 
 CowPENS, battle of, 18. 
 
 Cutch, partial conquest of, 187. 
 
 CuTTACK, insurrection in (1817), 
 187. 
 
 Daulat Rao Sindhia: see Sin- 
 dhia. 
 
 Delhi, water supply restored by 
 Hastings, 214. 
 
 Donington Park lent by Hastings 
 to the Bourbon princes, 40. 
 
 DONKIN, Gen. Sir R. S., com- 
 manded second division of the 
 Northern Grand Army, iii : 
 advanced, 116: defeats the 
 Pind^ris, 120: directed to deal 
 with Holkar, 129 : further 
 movements against the Pind^rfs, 
 134: his force broken up, 
 
 Doveton, Gen. Sir John, com- 
 manded second division of the 
 Southern Grand Army, 112 : 
 summons Asfrgarh, 117: re- 
 lieved Jenkins at NiCgpur, 127: 
 ordered to reduce Kh^ndesh, 
 1 38 : pursued the Peshwfi into 
 Nagpur territories, 147 : failed 
 to catch the Peshw^, 149. 
 
 Doyle, Gen. Sir John, his charac- 
 ter of Hastings quoted, 39.
 
 INDEX 
 
 221 
 
 Dutch, Hastings and the, in the 
 Eastern Archipelago, 184-186. 
 
 Education, Hastings' encourage- 
 ment of, in India, 209, 210. 
 
 Elphinstone, Hon. Mountstuart, 
 Resident at Pooiia, 88 : insists 
 on the surrender of Triinbakji, 
 89 : forces the Peshwsl to sign 
 the Treaty of Poona, 104-106 : 
 at battle of Kirki, 122: sug- 
 gests the despatch of a light 
 column to pursue the Peshwa, 
 142 : proclaims the deposition 
 of the Peshwa, 144 : pacifies 
 the Deccan, 176, 177: made 
 Governorof Bombay, 177: makes 
 treaty with the Gaekwar, 1 79. 
 
 Emperob, the Mughal, Hastings' 
 attitude towards, 191, 192. 
 
 Financial policy of Hastings and 
 
 its results, 207-209. 
 Fitzgerald, Capt., his winning 
 charge at Sitabaldf, 126. 
 
 Gaekwar op Baroda : «ee Anand 
 Rao, Syaji Rao. 
 
 Gangadhar SHASTKf, murder of, 
 88. 
 
 Gardner, Col., raises a Rohilla 
 force for the invasion of Ku- 
 mi-iun, 71 : his operations, 72. 
 
 Gates, Gen., American com- 
 mander, defeated at Camden, 
 
 17- 
 
 Gillespie, Gen. Sir R. R., com- 
 manded a column in the Nepal 
 war, 64 : killed at Kalanga 
 (Nalflpani), 65 : Hastings' tri- 
 bute to, 69, 70. 
 
 GoKLA, Bappu, Mar^th^ general, 
 killed at Ashti, 145. 
 
 GoRAKHPUR, disputes on its Nep^ 
 frontier, 57. 
 
 Grant-Duff, Capt. James, ap- 
 pointed administrator of SatiCra, 
 177. 
 
 Greene, Gen., American com- 
 mander, defeated by Corn- 
 wallis, 18 : by Hastings, 19, 20. 
 
 Guildford, battle of, 18. 
 Gujarat ravaged by Pind^ris, 
 
 53- 
 
 Gujarat Corps, the, of the Grand 
 Army : see Keih. 
 
 Gurkhas, the, their race and 
 history, 56, 57 : their relations 
 with the English, 57-59: out- 
 break of war with, 63, 64 : 
 Hastings' plan of campaign, 64 : 
 first campaign, 64-67 : causes 
 of its failure, 68-70: second 
 campaign and invasion of Ku- 
 maim, 70-75 : negotiations for 
 peace, 76-78 : third campaign, 
 78-81 : conclusion of peace, 
 8r. 
 
 GwALioR. treaty of, with Sindhia, 
 114, 1x5. 
 
 Harrow, Hastings educated at, 
 
 13- 
 Hastings, Francis Rawdon- 
 Hastings, Lord Rawdon, Earl 
 of Moira, and Marquess of, his 
 birtli, 7: family, 7-12 : educa- 
 tion and entrance into the army, 
 13: services in the American 
 War of Independence, 14-24: 
 created an English peer, 26 : 
 second to the Duke of York, 26, 
 27 : expedition to La Vendee, 
 27 : campaign in Flanders, 28- 
 30: political life (1797-1813), 
 30-37 : appointed Governor- 
 General of India, 37 : marriage, 
 37 : created a Marquess, 38, 
 84 Ji : appearance, 39 : ex- 
 travagance, 39, 40 : governor- 
 ship of Malta and death, 41 : 
 character, 42 : problems waiting 
 solution on his arrival in India, 
 60-62 : the war with the Gur- 
 khas, 63-83 : defence of his 
 policy towards the Gurkhas, 
 83, 84 ; desire to overthrow the 
 Pindarfs, 90-92, 96 : policy in 
 Nagpur, 93 : in Rajputaiia, 94 : 
 ■|)lan of campaign against the 
 Pindaris, 110-113: takes com- 
 mand of the Northern Grand
 
 222 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Army, iii: the Pind^rl and 
 third Marath^ war, 1 13-1 57 : 
 decides to dethrone the Peshwii, 
 143, 144 : his military plans, 
 
 159, 160: political intentions, 
 
 160, 161 : attempt at a native 
 ministry in Na^fpur, 1 78 : policy 
 towards Burma, 183, 184 : to- 
 wards the Dutch, foundation 
 of Singapore, 184-186 : quoted 
 on failure of sieges in India, 1 88- 
 
 190 : policy towards Oudh, 190, 
 
 191 ; towards the Mughal Em- 
 peror, 191, 192 : towards the 
 Niz^m, 193, 194: case of Palmer 
 and Co., 194-197 : judicial re- 
 forms, 201-203 : opinion of 
 zamlnd^rs, 203, 204 : financial 
 policy, 207-209 : encouragement 
 of education, 209, 210 ; attitude 
 to the Company's officers, 211, 
 212 : to the half-castes, 212- 
 214: public works, 214, 215: 
 improvement of Calcutta, 215: 
 summary of his administration 
 in India, 216-218. 
 
 Hastings, William, Lord, 9, 10. 
 
 HAthkas, capture of(i8i7), 118, 
 189. 
 
 Hatnes, Isaac, the execution of, 
 22. 
 
 Heaksey, Maj., raised force for 
 invasion of Kumaun, 71 : taken 
 prisoner by the Gurkhas, 72. 
 
 HiSLOP, Gen. Sir T., commanded 
 Southern Grand Army, 1 1 1 ; 
 and its first division, 112 : first 
 movements against the PindiCrfs, 
 117: ordered to advance, 119, 
 1 20 : operation? asiainst Holkiir, 
 130 : joined by the Gujarat 
 division, 131 : advance against 
 the Peshwa, 146 : his division 
 broken up, 147. 
 
 Hobkibk's Hill, battle of, 19, 20. 
 
 HOLKAR, Jaswant Rao, Welles- 
 ley's war with, 46 : disorder in 
 his state on his death (1811), 
 49. 
 
 HoLKAR, Malh^r R^o, troubles at 
 bis court at the outbreak of the 
 
 Pindflrf war, 100, loi : negotia- 
 tions with, 109 : effect of the 
 Peshwa's rising on his army, 
 1 29 : which is defeated at Me- 
 hidpur, 1 30 : Treaty of Man- 
 desar with, 131 : pacification of 
 his state, 173, 174. 
 
 Huntingdon, the earls of, 10-12. 
 
 Huntingdon, Selina, Countess of, 
 13. 
 
 Ireland, 
 33- 
 
 ■8 Views on, 31- 
 
 Jaipur, R^ji£ of, appeals for 
 British help against Amir Khan, 
 94 : peace restored in the state 
 by Ochterlony, 169. 
 
 Jaitak, repulse of the English at, 
 66 : besieged, 73 ; surrendered, 
 
 75- 
 Jaswant Ri.o Bhao offers sup- 
 port to Chltu, 118: conquered, 
 
 135- 
 
 Jenkins, Sir Richard, Resident 
 at Nagpur, 125: receives the 
 surrender of Ap^ Sahib, 127: 
 makes treaty with him, 128: 
 makes him prisoner, 1 47 : re- 
 calls Adams to oppose the Pesh- 
 w^, 148. 
 
 Jodhpur, R^jd of, treaties con- 
 cluded with, 103, 169. 
 
 Judicial reforms, Hastings', 
 201-204. 
 
 Kalanga or NalapIni, British 
 repulse at, 65. 
 
 Kari'm, Pindflif leader, 52: makes 
 efforts for defence, 116: retreat 
 towards Gwalior, 118: defeated 
 by Donkin, 1 20 : escaped into 
 Holkar's state, 121 : defeated 
 by Adams and surrendered, 
 136. 
 
 Keie, Gen. Sir W., commanded 
 Gu jurat Corps of Southern 
 Grand Army, 112 : joins His- 
 lop, 131 : ])ursued Chitu, 135, 
 136 : returned to Baroda, 138. 
 
 Khandesh, conquest of, 153, 154.
 
 INDEX 
 
 223 
 
 Khatmandu, Ochterlony's ad- 
 vance on, 78-80- 
 
 KiUKi, battle of, 122. 
 
 KoREGAON, battle of, 139-141. 
 
 KoTAH, E;ija of, repulses the Pin- 
 diirls, 120: treaty made with, 
 169. 
 
 KuMADN, invasion and conquest 
 of, 71-73- 
 
 La Kochejaquelein, Henride, 
 death of, caused failure of ex- 
 pedition to La Vendue, 27. 
 
 Latter, Maj., commanded force 
 supporting EdjA of Sikkim 
 against the Giirkhas, 64, 
 
 Lennox, Col., liis duel with the 
 Duke of York, 26. 
 
 Leslie, Gen., sent with reinforce- 
 ments to Charleston, 18. 
 
 LiVEEPOOL, Earl of, appointed 
 Prime Minister, 36. 
 
 Loudoun, Flora, Countess of, 
 married Hastings, 37. 
 
 McMahon, Col., Hastings' letter 
 to, declaring his readiness to form 
 a ministry, 30. 
 
 MalAun, capture of, 74, 75. 
 
 Malcolm, Gen. Sir John, political 
 ofhcer with Hislop, 1 1 1 : com- 
 manded third division of the 
 Southern Grand Ai"my, 112 : 
 pursued Chltu, 118 : defeated 
 Holkar's army at Mehidpur, 
 1 30 : pacified Holkar's northern 
 dominions, 138 : stopped the 
 PeshwiC's flight to the north, 
 149: received the Peshwa's 
 surrender, 1 50 : Hastings' testi- 
 mony to his services, 151. 
 
 Malegaon, capture of, 153, 154. 
 
 MalhAb RAo Holkab : see HoL- 
 
 KAB. 
 
 Malta, Hastings appointed Go- 
 vernor of, 41. 
 
 Mandesar, Treaty of, with Hol- 
 kar, 131. 
 
 Mabathas, the five great states, 
 44 : \V ellesley's war with and 
 policy towards, 45, 46 : feeling 
 
 of the, at time of Hastings' 
 arrival, 51 : third war with, 
 121-157 : confusion caused by 
 their arrangements, 165, 166: 
 see also Baeoda, Holkar, 
 Nagpue, Peshwa, Sindhia. 
 
 Marley, Gen. B., commanded 
 column in the Gurkha war, 64 : 
 checked in his advance, 66. 
 
 Marshall, Gen. Sir D., com- 
 manded third division of the 
 Northern Grand Army, 1 1 1 : 
 advanced against the Pind;trfs, 
 116: further movements, 118: 
 defeated the Pindari's, 120: fur- 
 ther movements, 1 34 : reduced 
 Sagar, 137. 
 
 Martindell, Gen. Sir G., suc- 
 ceeded Gillespie and besieged 
 Jaitak, 73. 
 
 Mauritius, capture of the, 44. 
 
 Mawbey, Col., instructions to, 69. 
 
 Mehidpur, battle of, 130. 
 
 Metcalfe, Sir Charles, Resident 
 at Delhi, promised protection to 
 Bhopiil, 86 : commenced pacifi- 
 cation of R^jputtina, 168 : 
 Resident at HaidarahM, 194; 
 exposed Palmer and Co., 195. 
 
 Minto, Earl of, his administration 
 of India, 47 : policy towards the 
 native states, 48, 49 ; efforts to 
 conciliate the Gurkhas, 58. 
 
 MoiBA, Earl of: see Hastings, 
 Marquess of. 
 
 Monmouth, battle of, Hastings 
 present at, 16. 
 
 MuNRO, Gen. Sir Thomas, checked 
 the Peshwii's flight south, 141 : 
 took Belgaum, 152 : and Sholii- 
 pur, 153 : pacified the southern 
 districts of the Peshw^, 177: 
 Governor of Madras and intro- 
 duced riiyatwflri settlement, 206. 
 
 NAgpur, affairs at, 93, 125-128, 
 146-148: settlement of, 177, 
 178: see Api. Sahib, Raguuji' 
 Bhonsla. 
 
 Nalapani or Kalanga, repulse 
 of the British at, 65.
 
 224 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Nepal, situation and boundaries, 
 56 : war with, see Gurkhas. 
 
 NiCHOLLS, Col., joins Gardner and 
 takes Almora, 72, 73 : succeeds 
 Gen. Wood, 76. 
 
 Ninety- Six relieved by Hastings, 
 21. 
 
 Nizam op Haidarabad, position 
 at outbreak of Pindari war, 
 loi : relieved from chauth and 
 received territory on conclusion 
 of the third Maratha war, 178, 
 179: refused title of king, 190: 
 his administration, 193, 194 ; 
 the case of Palmer and Co., 
 194-197. 
 
 OcHTEBLONT, Gen. Sir David, his 
 first campaign against the Gur- 
 khas, 64, 65 : his second advance 
 and capture of Malaun, 74. 75 • 
 placed in command of main 
 army, 76 : advance on Kh^t- 
 mandu, 78~8° ^ signed treaty 
 with the Gurkhas, Si : created 
 a baronet, 84 n : commanded 
 Eeserve Division of Northern 
 Grand Army, 112 : disarmed 
 Amir Khan's troops, 129: left 
 in Rajputana, 137: pacified and 
 settled Eajputana, 168-170 : 
 operations in Jaipur, 169 : made 
 aG.C.B., 211. 
 
 OsTEND, Hastings' march from, 
 28, 29. 
 
 OODH, part of the Tarai ceded to, 
 81 : Naw^b Wazir recognised 
 as king, 190. 
 
 Palmer and Co., the case of, 194- 
 197. 
 
 PaNCHATATS, 202, 203. 
 
 Pathan freebooters in India, 54, 
 
 55 : see Amir KhAn. 
 Perceval, Spencer, assassination 
 
 of, 35- 
 Persian Gulf, expedition sent to 
 
 iittuck pirates in the, 1S6. 
 Peshwa, BdjI Rao II, seventh 
 
 and last, his discontent at the 
 
 position cieatcd by the Treaty 
 
 of Bassein (1S02), 51 ; dispute 
 with Baroda, 87 : murdered 
 Gangadhar Sh^stri, 88 : sur- 
 rendered Trimbakjl, 89 : atti- 
 tude at outbreak of the Pindari 
 war, 1 00 : forced to sign Treaty 
 of Poona, 105 : takes up arms, 
 117: proceedings at Poona, 
 121 : defeated at Kirkl, 122 : 
 driven from Poona, 123: pur- 
 sued by Smith, 124: figlits 
 battle of Koregiion, 1 39-1 41 : 
 chased by Smith and Pi-itzler, 
 141, 142: deposed and out- 
 lawed, 144 : defeated at Ashti, 
 125: advanced towards Nagpur, 
 147 : defeated at Seoni, 149 : 
 surrenders to Malcolm, 150. 
 
 Philadelphia, Hastings at occu- 
 pation of, 15. 
 
 Pichegru. Gen., deceived by 
 Hastings' march from Ostend, 
 29. 
 
 PiNDAUis, the, described, 51-54 : 
 derivation of the name, 51 «: 
 their atrocities and incursions 
 into British territory, 91, 92, 
 94, 95 : war with, 1 16-137. 
 
 Pirates, suppression of, 186. 
 
 Poona, lYeaty of, 106 : city of, 
 occupied by Smith, 123. 
 
 Pritzi.Ei:, Gen. Sir T., commanded 
 Reserve Division Southern 
 Grand Army in Pindari war, 
 112 : advances against the 
 Peshw^, 124 : chases the Pesh- 
 wil, 141 : joins Munro, 152. 
 
 Pdlteney, Sir J., designed to be 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer in 
 Hastings' proposed ministry, 30. 
 
 PuRSAJi Bhonsla, successor of 
 Raghuji (1816), blind and im- 
 becile, 92 : murdered, 107. 
 
 Raffles, Sir T. Stamford, his 
 policy against the Dutch in 
 the Eastern Archipelago, 184 : 
 foun is Singapore, 185. 
 
 Raghuji Bhonsla II, Raj^ of 
 Ndi,'pur, refused to form sub- 
 sidiary alliance with the English
 
 INDEX 
 
 225 
 
 (1812), 50: and again (1814), 
 85 : death of, 92. 
 
 Rajputana, relations entered into 
 with the chiefs of before out- 
 break of the Pind;lrl war, 103, 
 104: settlement and pacification 
 of, 168-170. 
 
 RanjIt Singh, attitude c^ during 
 the Gurkha war, 67 : kept from 
 interference by the position of 
 the Afghjina, 70 : allowed Ap^ 
 S^hib asylum but did not 
 countenance him,i57: Hastings' 
 friendly relations with, 186. 
 
 Rawdon, family of, 7-9. 
 
 Rewa, R^j^ of, encouraged the 
 Pind^ris, 54 : settlement of 
 dispute with, 61. 
 
 Sagab, annexation and conquest 
 
 of, 137- 
 
 Sakan invaded by the Giirkhas, 58. 
 
 Satara, taken by Gen. Smith, 
 142 : R^j^ of, recognised as in- 
 dependent, 144: arrangements 
 made with, 177. 
 
 Segauli, Treaty of, 77 : not rati- 
 fied by the Giirkha government, 
 78 : finally sealed, 80 : results 
 of, 82. 
 
 Seoni, the Peshw£ defeated at, 
 149. 
 
 Seoraj, dispute about, a cause of 
 war with the Gtirkhas, 58. 
 
 Sholapdr taken by Munro, 153. 
 
 Si AM, mission sent to, 186. 
 
 Sieges, Hastings quoted on the 
 failure of, in India, 188-190. 
 
 SiKKiM, 'Rdjd of, force sent to 
 assist him against the Glirkhas, 
 64: his co-operation secured, 
 66 : independence asserted by 
 the Treaty of Segauli, 76 : treaty 
 made with, 81. 
 
 SiND, the Mirs of, Hastings' rela- 
 tions with, 186. 
 
 Sindhia, Daulat R^o, "Wellesley's 
 war with, 46 : attitude during 
 the war with the Gtirkhas, 68, 
 70 : position at the outbreak of 
 the Pind.-lrf war, loi : negotia- 
 
 tions with, 108, 109 : forced to 
 sign Treaty of Gwalior, 114: 
 promised the Pinddrl leaders 
 his protection, 119: forced to 
 surrender Kslrim, 136 : en- 
 couraged the resistance of Aslr- 
 garh, 156: treaties made with, 
 
 175- 
 
 Singapore occupied by Raffles 
 with Hastings' encouragement, 
 185. 
 
 SfTABALDf, battle of, 125, 126. 
 
 Skinner, CoL J. H., Hastings' in- 
 terview with, 212-214. 
 
 Smith, Gen- Sir Lionel, com- 
 manded fourth division of the 
 Southern Grand Army, 112 : 
 occupies Poona, 123: pursues 
 the Peshw^, 124, 141 : takes 
 Sat&a, 142 : defeats the Pesh- 
 •wi. at Asht£, 145: follows him 
 into Nfigpur territory, 147 : 
 chases him after his defeat at 
 Seonf, 149. 
 
 Staunton, Capt., fights battle of 
 Koregiion, 139-141. 
 
 Subsidiary alliances with native 
 states described, 44, 45. 
 
 SuMPTER, American commander, 
 defeated, 17. 
 
 STAji Rao GIekwIr succeeds 
 (1819) and makes treaty with 
 Elplnnstone (1820), 179. 
 
 Ti.NTiA JoGH, becomes minister 
 to Holkar, 173: his ability and 
 success, 174. 
 
 TarIi, the, partly occupied (18 14), 
 66: cession of demanded from 
 the Glirkhas, 76, 77 : part re- 
 nounced, part ceded to Oudh 
 (1816), 81. 
 
 Tod, Capt., assists in settling R^j- 
 put^na, 168. 
 
 ToNK, principality of, offered to 
 Amir Kh^ if he disbanded 
 his troops, 109 : conditions ac- 
 cepted, 128. 
 
 TRiMBAKji murdered Gangadhar 
 Sh^stri, 88 : imprisoned, 89 : 
 escaped, 104: recaptured, 157.
 
 226 
 
 INDEX 
 
 TULSf Bit claimed regency over 
 Holkar's state, loo: offered to 
 accept British protection, 129: 
 murdered, 130. 
 
 Udaipue, Mahar^na of, treaty 
 made with, 103 : claims over 
 other Rdjput states formally 
 rejected, 169. 
 
 Wales, Prince of, afterwards 
 George IV, friendship between 
 the, and Hastings, 26, 34, 
 40. 
 
 Washington, George, his accusa- 
 tions against Cornwallis and 
 Hastings, 23. 
 
 Wasil MuHAMMAD.Pindiri leader, 
 52 : preparations for defence, 
 u6: retreated to wards Gwalior, 
 118: invited thither by Sindhia, 
 119: defeated by Adams, 136: 
 surrendered by Sindhia, and 
 committed suicide, 136. 
 
 Welleslet, Marquess, his policy 
 in India attacked by Hastings 
 in Parliament, 33 : his attempt 
 to form a ministry, 35 : Hast- 
 ings when in India upheld his 
 views, 43 : his administration 
 of India, 44-46 : Hastings' ad- 
 ministration the sequel of Wel- 
 lesley's, 217, 218. 
 
 Wood, Gen. J. S., commanded a 
 column in the war with the 
 Gtirkhas, 64 : his advance 
 checked, 66 : succeeded by 
 NichoUs, 76. 
 
 York, Duke of, Hastings his 
 second in a duel with Col. 
 Lennox, 26 : his campaign in 
 Flanders, 27: joined by Hastings 
 from Ostend, 28, 
 
 ZamIndars, Hastings' views on 
 the Bengal Zamlnd^s, 203, 
 204.
 
 RULERS OP INDIA: 
 
 TSE CLARENDON FRESS SERIES OF INDIAN 
 
 HISTORICAL RETROSPECTS. 
 
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 A BRIEF HISTORY OP THE INDIAN 
 PEOPLES. 
 
 Standaed Edition (Twenty-second), revised to 1895. 
 Eighty-fourth Thousand. 
 
 This Edition incorporates the suggestions received by the author 
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 Q
 
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 Fourth Edition. Seventh Thousand. 
 
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 £Dpinion0 of tbe Press 
 
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 Q 3
 
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 Third Edition. Fourth Thousand. 
 
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 MRS. THACKERAY RITCHIE'S AND MR. RICHARDSON EVANS' 
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 reign of Aurangzlb. . . . Mr. Lane-Poole tells this story admirably ; 
 indeed, it were difficult to imagine it better told.' — National Observer. 
 
 ' Mr. Lane-Poole writes learnedly, lucidly, and vigorously. . . . He 
 draws an extremely vivid picture of Aurangzlb, his sti-ange ascetic 
 character, his intrepid courage, his remorseless overthrow of his 
 kinsmen, his brilliant court, and his disastrous policy ; and he describes 
 the gradual decline of the Mogul power from Akbar to Aurangzlb 
 with genuitie historical insight.' — Times. 
 
 ' A well-knit and cai)able sketch of one of the most remarkable, 
 perhaps the most interesting, of theMogulEmperors.' — Saturday Revieu-. 
 
 * As a study of the man himself, Mr. Lane-Poole's work is marked 
 by a vigour and originality of thought which give it a very exception<al 
 value among works on the subject.' — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 ' The most popular and most picturesque account that has yet 
 appeared ... a picture of much clearness and force.' — Globe. 
 
 'A notable sketch, at once scholarly and interesting.' — English Mail. 
 
 ' No one is better qualified than Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole to take up 
 the history and to depict the character of the last of the great Mogul 
 monarchs. . . . Aurangzib's career is ever a fascinating study.' — 
 Home News. 
 
 ' The author gives a description of the famous city of Sh^h Jah^n, its 
 palaces, and the ceremonies and pageants of which they were the scene. 
 . . . Mr. Lane-Poole's well-written monograph presents all the most dis- 
 tinctive features of Aurangzib's character and career.' — Morning Fast. 
 
 MAJOR ROSS OP BLADENSBURG'S 
 'MARQUESS OP HASTINGS.' 
 
 'Major Ross of Bladensburg treats his subject skilfully and attrac- 
 tively, and his biography of Lord Hastings worthily sustains the high 
 reputation of the Series in which it appears.' — The Times. 
 
 'This monograph is entitled to rank with the best of the Series, the 
 compiler having dealt capably and even brilliantly with his materials.' 
 — English Mail. 
 
 ' Instinct with interest.' — Glasgow Evening News. 
 
 ' As readable as it is instructive.' — Globe. 
 
 ' A truly admirable monograph.' — Glasgoto Herald. 
 
 ' Major Ross has done his work admirably, and bids fair to be one of 
 the best writers the Army of our day has given to the country. ... A 
 most acceptable and entrancing little volume.' — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 'It is a volume that merits the highest praise. Major Ross of 
 Bladensburg has represented Lord Hastings and his work in India 
 in the right light, faithfully described the country as it was, and in 
 a masterly manner makes one realize how important was the period 
 covered by this volume.' — Manchester Courier. 
 
 ' This excellent monograph ought not to be overlooked by any one 
 who would fully learn the history of British rule in India.' — Manchester 
 Examiner.
 
 ©pinions of tbe press 
 
 COLONEL MALLESON'S *DUPLEIX.» 
 
 Third Edition. Fifth Thousand. 
 ' In the character of Dupleix there was the element of greatness 
 that contact with India seems to have generated in so many European 
 minds, French as well as English, and a broad capacity for govern- 
 ment, which, if suffered to have full play, might have ended in giving 
 the whole of Southern India to France. Even as it was, Colonel 
 Malleson shows how narrowly the prize slipped from French grasp. 
 In 1783 the Treaty of Versailles arrived just in time to save the 
 British power from extinction.' — Times. 
 
 ' One of the best of Sir W. Hunter's interesting and valuable series. 
 Colonel Malleson writes out of the fulness of familiarity, moving with 
 ease over a field which he had long ago surveyed in every nook and 
 corner. To do a small book as well as this on Dupleix has been done, 
 will be recognised by competent judges as no small achievement. 
 When one considers the bulk of the material out of which the little 
 volume has been distilled, one can still better appreciate the labour 
 and dexterity involved in the performance.' — Academy. 
 
 ' A most compact and effective history of the French in India in a 
 little handbook of 180 pages.' — Nonconformist. 
 
 ' Well arranged, lucid and eminently readable, an excellent addition 
 to a most useful series.' — Record. 
 
 COLONEL MALLESON'S *AKBAIl.' 
 
 FouBTH Edition. Fifth Thousand. 
 ' Colonel Malleson's interesting monograph on Akbar in the "Rulers 
 of India" (Clarendon Press) should more than satisfy the general 
 reader. Colonel Malleson traces the origin and foundation of the 
 Mughal Empire ; and, as an introduction to the history of Muhamma- 
 dan India, the book leaves nothing to be desired.' — St. James s Gazette. 
 
 'This volume will, no doubt, be welcomed, even by experts in 
 Indian history, in the light of a new, clear, and terse rendering of an 
 old, but not worn-out theme. It is a worthy and valuable addition 
 to Sir W. Hunter's promising series.' — AthencBum. 
 
 ' Colonel Malleson has broken ground new to the general reader. 
 The story of Akbar is briefly but clearly told, with an account of what 
 he was and what he did, and how he found and how he left India. . . . 
 The native chronicles of the reign are many, and from theui it is still 
 possible, as Colonel Malleson has shown, to construct a living portrait 
 of this great and mighty potentate.' — Scots Observer. 
 
 ' The brilliant historian of the Indian Mutiny has been assigned in 
 this volume of the series an important epoch and a strong personality 
 for critical study, and he has admirably fulfilled his task. . . . Alike in 
 dress and style, this volume is a fit companion for its predecessor.' — 
 Manchester Guardian.
 
 ©piniona of tbe Press 
 
 ON 
 
 CAPTAIN TKOTTER'S 'WAEREI HASTIlfGS.' 
 
 Fourth Edition. Fifth Thousand. 
 
 ' The publication, recently noticed in this place, of the " Letters, 
 Despatches, and other State Papers preserved in the Foreign Depart- 
 ment of the Government of India, 1 772-1 785," has thrown entirely new- 
 light from the most authentic sources on the whole history of Warren 
 Hastings and his government of India. Captain L. J. Trotter's 
 Warren Hastings is accordingly neither inopportune nor devoid of an 
 adequate raison d'etre. Captain Trotter is well known a,s a competent 
 and attractive writer on Indian history, and this is not the first time 
 that Warren Hastings has supplied him with a theme.' — The Times. 
 
 ' He has put his best work into this memoir, . . . His work is of 
 distinct literary merit, and is worthy of a theme than which British 
 history presents none nobler. It is a distinct gain to the British race 
 to be enabled, as it now may, to count the great Governor-General 
 among those heroes for whom it need not blush.' — Scotsman. 
 
 ' Captain Trotter has done his work well, and his volume deserves 
 to stand with that on Dalhousie by Sir William Hunter. Higher 
 praise it would be hard to give it.' — Neto York Herald. 
 
 ' Captain Trotter has done full justice to the fascinating story of the 
 splendid achievements of a great Englishman.' — Blanchester Guardian. 
 
 ' A brief but admirable biography of the first Governor-G eneral of 
 India.' — Newcastle Chronicle. 
 
 ' A book which all must peruse who desire to be " up to date " on 
 the subject.' — The Globe. 
 
 MR. KEEIE'S 'MAMAYA MO SINMIA.' 
 
 Second Edition. Third Thousand. 
 
 * Mr. Keene has the enormous advantage, not enjoyed by every 
 producer of a book, of knowing intimately the topic he has taken up. 
 He has compressed into these 203 pages an immense amount of informa- 
 tion, drawn from the best sources, and presented with much neatness and 
 effect.'— TAe Globe. 
 
 ' Mr. Keene tells the story with knowledge and impartiality, and also 
 with sufficient graphic power to make it thoroughly readable. The 
 recognition of Sindhia in the "Rulers" series is just and graceful, 
 and it cannot fail to give satisfaction to the educated classes of our 
 Indian fellow-subjects.' — North British Daily Mail. 
 
 ' The volume bears incontestable proofs of the expenditure of con- 
 siderable research by the author, and sustains the reputation he had 
 already acquired by his "Sketch of the History of Hindustan."' — 
 Freeman s Journal. 
 
 ' Among the eighteen rulers of India included in the scheme of Sir 
 William Hunter only five are natives of India, and of these the great 
 Madhoji Sindhia is, with the exception of Akbar, the most illustrious. 
 Mr. H. G. Keene, a well-known and skilful writer on Indian questions, 
 is fortunate in his subject, for the career of the greatest bearer of the 
 historic name of Sindhia covered the exciting period from the capture of 
 Delhi, the Imperial capital, by the Persian Nadir Shah, to the occupation 
 of the same city by Lord Lake. . . . Mr. Keene gives a lucid description 
 of his subsequent policy, especially towards the English when he was 
 brought face to face with Warren Hastings.' — The Daily Graphic.
 
 Dpinionsi of tit IPtegs 
 
 ON 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR OWEN BURNE'S 
 * CLYDE AND STRATHNAIRN.' 
 
 Third Edition. Fourth Thousand. 
 
 ' In " Clyde and Strathnairn," a contribution to Sir William Hunter's 
 excellent "Rulers of India" series (Oxford, at the Clarendon Press), 
 Sir Owen Burne gives a lucid sketch of the military history of the 
 Indian Mutiny and its suppression by the two great soldiers who give 
 their names to his book. The space is limited for so large a theme, but 
 Sir Owen Burne skilfully adjusts his treatment to his limits, and rarely 
 violates the conditions of proportion imposed upon him. . . . Sir Owen 
 Burne does not confine himself exclusively to the military narrative. 
 He gives a brief sketch of the rise and progress of the Mutiny, and 
 devotes a chapter to the Reconstruction which followed its suppression. 
 , , , — well written, well proportioned, and eminently worthy of the 
 series to which it belongs.' — The Times. 
 
 ' Sir Owen Burne who, by association, experience, and relations with 
 one of these generals, is well qualified for the task, writes with know- 
 ledge, perspicuity, and fairness.' — Saturday Review, 
 
 * As a brief record of a momentous epoch in India this little book is 
 a remarkable piece of clear, concise, and interesting writing.' — The 
 Colonies and India. 
 
 'Sir Owen Burne has written this book carefully, brightly, and 
 ■with excellent judgement, and we in India cannot read such a book 
 witliout feeling that he has powerfully aided the accomplished editor 
 of the series in a truly patriotic enterprise.' — Bombay Gazette. 
 
 'The volume on "Clyde and Strathnairn" has just appeared, and 
 proves to be a really valuable addition to the series. Considering its 
 size and the extent of ground it covers it is one of the best books about 
 the Indian Mutiny of which we know.' — Englishman. 
 
 ' Sir Owen Burne, who has written the latest volume for Sir William 
 Hunter's "Rulers of India" series, is better qualified than any living 
 person to narrate, from a military standpoint, the story of the suppres- 
 sion of the Indian Mutiny.' — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 ' Sir Owen Bume's book on " Clyde and Strathnairn " is worthy to 
 rank with the best in the admirable series to which it belongs.' — 
 Manchester Examiner. 
 
 'The book is admirably written; and there is probably no better 
 sketch, equally brief, of the stirring events with which it deals.' 
 — Scotsman. 
 
 ' Sir Owen Burne, from the part he played in the Indian Mutiny, and 
 from his long connexion with the Government of India, and from the 
 fact that he was military secretary of Lord Strathnairn both in India 
 and in Ireland, is well qualified for the task which he has undertaken.' — 
 The Athenceum.
 
 SDpmions of tbe Wttm 
 
 VISCOUNT HAEDIN&E'S 'LORD HAEDIIGE.' 
 
 Second Edition. Third Thousand. 
 
 ' An exception to the rule that biographies ought not to be entrusted 
 to near relatives. Lord Hardinge, a scholar and an artist, has given 
 us an accurate record of his father's long and distinguished services. 
 There is no filial exaggeration. The author has dealt with some con- 
 troversial matters with skill, and has managed to combine truth with 
 tact and regard for the feelings of others.' — The Saturday Bevieir. 
 
 'This interesting life reveals the first Lord Hardinge as a brave, 
 just, able man, the very soul of honour, admired and trusted equally 
 by friends and political opponents. The biographer . . . has produced a 
 most engaging volumej which is enriched by many private and official 
 documents that have not before seen the light.' — 2'he Anti-Jacobin. 
 
 ' Lord Hardinge has accomplished a grateful, no doubt, but, from 
 the abundance of material and delicacy of certain matters, a very 
 diflScult task in a workmanlike manner, marked by restraint and 
 lucidity.' — The Fall Mall Gazette. 
 
 ' His son and biographer has done his work with a true appreciatit>n 
 of proportion, and has added substantially to our knowledge of the 
 Sutlej Campaign.' — Vanity Fair. 
 
 'The present Lord Hardinge is in some respects exceptionally well 
 qualified to tell the tale of the eventful four years of his father's 
 Governor-Generalship.' — The Times. 
 
 ' It contains a full account of everything of importance in Lord 
 Hardinge's military and political career ; it is arranged ... so as to 
 bring into special prominence his government of India ; and it gives 
 a lifelike and striking picture of the man.' — Academy. 
 
 'The style is clear, the treatment dispassionate, and the total i-esult 
 a manual which does credit to the interesting series in which it figuresr.' 
 —The Globe. 
 
 ' The concise and vivid account which the son has given of his 
 father's career will interest many readers.' — The Morning Post. 
 
 ' Eminently readable for everybody. The historyis given succinctly, 
 and the unpublished letters quoted are of real value.' — The Colonies 
 and India. 
 
 'Compiled from public documents, family papers, and letters, this 
 brief biography gives the reader a clear idea of what Hardinge was, 
 both as a soldier and as an administrator.' — The Manchester Examiner. 
 
 ' An admirable sketch.' — The Neiu Yoric Herald. 
 
 ' The Memoir is well and concisely written, and is accompanied by 
 an excellent likeness after the portrait by Sir Francis Grant.' — The 
 Queen,
 
 flDpinions of tfte Press 
 
 ON 
 
 SIR HENRY CUNNINGHAM'S 'EARL 
 
 CANNING.' 
 
 Thibd Edition. Fourth Thousand. 
 
 ' Sir Henry Cunningham's rare literary skill and his knowledge 
 of Indian life and affairs are not now displayed for the first time, 
 and he has enjoyed exceptional advantages in dealing with his 
 present subject. Lord Granville, Canning's contemporary at school 
 and colleague in public life and one of his oldest friends, furnished his 
 biographer with notes of his recollections of the early life of his friend. 
 Sir Henry Cunningham has also been allowed access to the Diary of 
 Canning's private secretary, to the Journal of his military secretary, 
 and to an interesting correspondence between the Governor-General 
 and his great lieutenant, Lord Lawrence.' — The Times. 
 
 ' Sir H. S. Cunningham has succeeded in writing the history of a 
 critical period in so fair and dispassionate a manner as to make it 
 almost a matter of astonishment that the motives which he has so 
 clearly grasped should ever have been misinterpreted, and the results 
 which he indicates so grossly misjudged. Nor is the excellence of his 
 work less conspicuous from the literary than from the political and 
 historical point of view.' — Glasgoio Herald. 
 
 ' Sir H. S. Cunningham has treated his subject adequately. In vivid 
 language he paints his word-pictures, and with calm judicial analysis 
 he also proves himself an able critic of the actualities, causes, and results 
 of the outbreak, also a temperate, just appreciator of the character and 
 policy of Earl Canning.' — The Court Journal. 
 
 REV. W. H. HUTTON'S * MARQUESS 
 WELLESLEY.' 
 
 Second Edition. Third Thousand. 
 
 ' Mr. Hutton has brought to his task an open mind, a trained 
 historical judgement, and a diligent study of a great body of original 
 material. Hence he is enabled to present a true, authentic, and 
 original portrait of one of the greatest of Anglo-Indian statesmen, 
 doing full justice to his military policy and achievements, and also to 
 his statesmanlike efforts for the organization and consolidation of that 
 Empire which he did so much to sustain.' — Times. 
 
 'To the admirable candour and discrimination which characterize 
 Mr. Hutton's monograph as an historical study must be added the 
 literary qualities which distinguish it and make it one of the most 
 readable volumes of the series. The st3'le is vigorous and picturesque, 
 and the arrangement of details artistic in its just regard for proportion 
 and perspective. In short, there is no point of view from which the work 
 deserves anything but praise.' — Glasyotv Herald. 
 
 ' The Rev, W. H. Hutton has done his work well, and achieves with 
 force and lucidity the task he sets himself: to show how, under 
 Wellesley, the Indian company developed and ultimately became the 
 supreme power in India. To our thinking his estimate of this great 
 statesman is most just.' — Black and White. 
 
 ' Mr. Hutton has told the story of Lord Wellesley's life in an admir- 
 able manner, and has provided a most readable book.' — Manchester 
 Examiner. 
 
 ' Mr. Hutton's range of information is wide, his division of subjects 
 appropriate, and his diction scholarly and precise,' — Saturday Review.
 
 ©pinions; of tfte IPress 
 
 ON 
 
 SIR LEPEL GRIFFIN'S * RAN JIT SINGH.' 
 
 Third Edition. Fourth Thousand. 
 
 ' We can thoroughly praise Sir Lepel Griffin's work as an accurate 
 and appreciative account of the beginnings and growth of the Sikh 
 religion and of the temporal power founded upon it by a strong and 
 remorseless chieftain.' — The Times. 
 
 ' Sir Lepel Griffin treats his topic with thorough mastery, and his 
 account of the famous Mah^rjijil and his times is, consequently, one of 
 the most valuable as well as interesting volumes of the series of which 
 it forms a part.' — The Globe. 
 
 ' From first to last it is a model of what such a work should be, and 
 a classic' — The St. Stephen's Eevieio. 
 
 ' The monograph could not have been entrusted to more capable 
 hands than those of Sir Lepel Griffin, who spent his official life in the 
 Punjaub.' — The Scotsman. 
 
 ' At once the shortest and best history of the rise and fall of the 
 Sikh monarchy.' — The North British Daily Mail. 
 
 ' Not only a biography of the Napoleon of the East, but a luminous 
 picture of his country ; the chapter on Sikh Theocracy being a notable 
 example of compact thought.' — The Liverpool Mercury. 
 
 MR. DEMETRIUS BOULGER'S ' LORD 
 WILLIAM BENTINCK.' 
 
 Second Edition. Third Thousand. 
 
 'The "Rulers of India" series has received a valuable addition in 
 the biography of the late Lord William Bentinck. The subject of this 
 interesting memoir was a soldier as well as a statesman. He waa 
 mainly instrumental in bringing about the adoption of the overland 
 route and in convincing the people of India that a main factor in Eng- 
 lish policy was a disinterested desire for their welfare. Lord William's 
 despatches and minutes, several of which are textually reproduced in 
 Mr. Boulger's praiseworthy little book, display considerable literary 
 skill and are one and all State papers of signal worth.' — Daily Tele- 
 graph. 
 
 ' Mr. Boulger is no novice in dealing with Oriental history and 
 Oriental affairs, and in the career of Lord William Bentinck he has 
 found a theme very much to his taste, which he treats with adequate 
 knowledge and literary skill.' — The Times. 
 
 ' Mr. Boulger writes clearly and well, and his volume finds an ac- 
 cepted place in the very useful and informing series which Sir William 
 Wilson Hunter is editing so ably.' — Independent.
 
 ©pinions of tbe lpte00 
 
 ON 
 
 MR. J. S. COTTON'S * MOUNTSTUART 
 ELPHINSTONE.' 
 
 Second Edition. Third Thousand. 
 
 ' Sir William Hunter, the editor of the series to which this book 
 belonsjs, was happily inspired when he entrusted the Life of Elphin- 
 stone, one of the most scliolarly of Indian rulers, to Mr. Cotton, who, 
 himself a scholar of merit and repute, is brought by the nature of his 
 daily avocations into close and constant relations with scholars. . . . We 
 live in an age in which none but specialists can afford to give more time 
 to the memoirs of even the most distinguished Anglo-Indians than will 
 be occupied by reading Mr. Cotton's two hundred pages. He has per- 
 formed his task with great skill and good sense. This is just tlie kind 
 of Life of himself which the wise, kindly, high-souled man, who is the 
 subject of it, would read with pleasure in the Elysian Fields.' — Sir M. 
 E. Grant Duff, in The Academy. 
 
 ' To so inspiring a theme few writers are better qualified to do ample 
 justice than the author of "The Decennial Statement of the Moral and 
 Material Progress and Condition of India." Sir T. Colebrooke's larger 
 biography of Elphinstone appeals mainly to Indian specialists, but 
 Mr. Cotton's slighter sketch is admirably adapted to satisfy the growing 
 demand for a knowledge of Indian history and of the personalities of 
 Anglo-Indian statesmen which Sir William Hunter has done so much 
 to create.' — The Times. 
 
 DR. BRADSHAW'S ' SIR THOMAS 
 MUNRO.' 
 
 ' A most valuable, compact and interesting memoir for those looking 
 forward to or engaged in the work of Indian administration.' — Scotsman. 
 
 ' It is a careful and sympathetic survey of a life which should always 
 serve as an example to the Indian soldier and civiHan.' — Yorkshire Post. 
 
 'A. true and vivid record of Munro's life-work in almost auto- 
 biographical form.' — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 ' Of the work before us we have nothing but praise. The story of 
 Munro's career in India is in itself of exceptional interest and im- 
 portance.' — Freeman's Journal. 
 
 ' The work could not have been better done ; it is a monument of 
 painstaking care, exhaustive research, and nice discrimination.' — People. 
 
 'This excellent and spirited little monograph catches the salient 
 points of Munro's career, and supplies some most valuable quotations 
 from liis writings and papers.' — Manchester Guardian. 
 
 ' It would be impossible to imagine a more attractive and at the 
 same time instructive book about India.' — Liverpool Courier. 
 
 ' It is one of the best volumes of this excellent series.' — Imperial and 
 Asiatic Quarterly Review. 
 
 ' The book throughout is arranged in an admirably clear manner and 
 there is evident on every page a desire for truth, and nothing but the 
 truth.' — Commerce. 
 
 ' A clear and scholarly piece of work.' — Indian Journal 0/ Education,
 
 ©pinions of tfte IPress 
 
 ON 
 
 MR. MOESE STEPHENS' 'ALBUQUEEQUE.' 
 
 Second Edition. Third Thousand. 
 
 ' Mr. Stephens' able and instructive monograph . . . We may commend 
 Mr. Morse Stephens' volume, both as an adequate summary of an 
 important period in the history of the relations between Asia and 
 Europe, and as a suggestive treatment of the problem of why Portuo-al 
 failed and England succeeded in founding an Indian Empu-e.' — The 
 Times. 
 
 * Mr. H. Morse Stephens has made a very readable book out of the 
 foundation of the Portuguese power in India. According to the 
 practice of the series to which it belongs it is called a life of Affonso de 
 Albuquerque, but the Governor is only the central and most important 
 figure in a brief history of the Portuguese in the East down to the time 
 when the Dutch and English intruded on their preserves ... A plea- 
 santly-written and trustworthy book on an interesting man and time.' 
 — The Saturday Review. 
 
 ' Mr. Morse Stephens' Albuquerque is a solid piece of work, well put 
 together, and full of interest.' — The Athenceum. 
 
 ' Mr. Morse Stephens' studies in Indian and Portuguese history have 
 thoroughly well qualified him for approaching the subject . . . He has 
 presented the facts of Albuquerque's career, and sketched the events 
 marking the rule of his predecessor Almeida, and of his immediate 
 successors in the Governorship and Viceroyalty of India in a compact, 
 lucid, and deeply interesting form.' — The Scotsman. 
 
 SIE CHAELES AITCHISON'S'LOE]) lAWEEICE.' 
 
 Third Edition. Fourth Thousand. 
 ' No man knows the policy, principles, and character of John 
 Lawrence better than Sir Charles Aitchison. The salient features 
 and vital principles of his work as a ruler, first in the Punjab, and 
 afterwards as Viceroy, are set forth vpith remarkable clearness.' — 
 Scotsman. 
 
 ' A most admirable sketch of the great work done by Sir John 
 Lawrence, who not only ruled India, but saved it.' — Manchester 
 Examiner. 
 
 ' Sir Charles Aitchison's narrative is uniformly marked by directness, 
 order, clearness, and grasp ; it throws additional light into certain 
 nooks of Indian affairs ; and it leaves upon the mind a very vivid 
 and complete impression of Lord Lawrence's vigorous, resourceful, 
 discerning, and valiant personality.' — Newcastle Daily Chronicle. 
 
 ' Sir Charles knows the Punjab thoroughly, and has made this little 
 book all the more interesting by his account of the Punjab under John 
 Lawrence and his subordinates.' — Yorkshire Fast
 
 £Dpmions of tbc Ipress 
 
 ON 
 
 LEWIN BENTHAM BOWRING'S 
 *HAIDAR ALI AND TlPtJ SULTAN.' 
 
 Second Edition. Third Thousand. 
 
 'Mr. Bowring's portraits are just, and his narrative of the continuous 
 military operations of the period full and accurate.' — Times. 
 
 ' The story has been often written, but never better or more con- 
 cisely than here, where the father and son are depicted vividly and 
 truthfully " in their habit as they lived." There is not a volume of 
 the whole series which is better done than this, or one which shows 
 greater insight.' — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 ' Mr. Bowring has been well chosen to write this memorable history, 
 because he has had the best means of collecting it, having himself 
 formerly been Chief Commissioner of Mysore. The account of the 
 ^lysore war is well done, and Mr. Bowring draws a stirring picture of 
 our detei-mined adversary.' — Army and Navy Gazette. 
 
 'An excellent example of compression and precision. Many volumes 
 might be written about the long war in Mysore, and we cannot but 
 admire the skill with which Mr. Bowring has condensed the history of 
 the struggle. His book is as terse and concise as a book can be.' — 
 North British Daily Mail. 
 
 ' Mr. Bowring's book is one of the freshest and best of a series most 
 valuable to all interested in the concerns of the British Empire in the 
 East.' — English Hail. 
 
 ' The story of the final capture of Seringapatam is told with skill 
 and graphic power by Mr. Bowring, who throughout the whole work 
 shows himself a most accurate and interesting historian.' — Perthshire 
 Advertiser. 
 
 COLONEL MALLESON'S 'LORD CLIVE.' 
 
 Second Edition. Thikd Thousand. 
 
 'This book gives a spirited and accurate sketch of a very extra- 
 ordinary personality.' — Speaker. 
 
 ' Colonel Malleson writes a most interesting account of Clive's great 
 work in India — so interesting that, having begun to read it, one is 
 unwilling to lay it aside until the last page has been reached. The 
 character of Clive as a leader of men, and especially as a cool, intrepid, 
 and resourceful general, is ably described ; and at the same time the 
 author never fails to indicate the far-reaching political schemes which 
 inspired the valour of Clive and laid the foundation of our Indian 
 Empire.' — North British Daily Mail. 
 
 ' This monograph is admirably written by one thoroughly acquainted 
 and in love with his subject.' — Glasijotv Herald. 
 
 ' No one is better suited than Colonel Malleson to write on Clive, 
 and he has performed his task with distinct success. The whole narra- 
 tive is, like everything Colonel Malleson writes, clear and full of 
 vigour.' — Yorlishire Post. 
 
 ' Colonel Malleson is reliable and fair, and the especial merit of his 
 book is that it always presents a clear view of the whole of the vast 
 theatre in which Clive gradually produces such an extraordinary change 
 of scene.' — Neiocastle Daily Chronicle,
 
 flDpmiong; of tlje IPre^s 
 
 CAPT. TROTTER'S * EARL OP AUCKLAND.' 
 
 'A vivid account of the causes, conduct, and consequences of "the 
 costly, fruitless, and unrighteous" Afghan War of 1838.' — St. Jamen'y 
 Gazette. 
 
 'To write such a monograph was a thankless task, but it has been 
 accomplished with entire success by Captain L. J. Trotter. H'e has 
 dealt calmly and clearly with Lord Auckland's policy, domestic and 
 military, with its financial results, and with the general tendency of 
 Lord Auckland's rule.' — Yorkshire Post. 
 
 'To this distressing story (of the First Afghan War) Captain Trotter 
 devotes the major portion of his pages. He tells it well and forcibly ; 
 but is drawn, perhaps unavoidably, into the discussion of many topics 
 of controversy which, to some readers, may seem to be hardly as yet 
 finally decided. ... It is only fair to add that two chapters are devoted 
 to " Lord Auckland's Domestic Policy," and to his relations with 
 " The Native States of India." ' — The Times. 
 
 ' Captain Trotter's Earl of Auckland is a most interesting book, and 
 its excellence as a condensed, yet luminous, history of the first Afghan 
 War deserves warm recognition.' — Scotsman. 
 
 ' It points a moral which our Indian Rulers cannot afford to forget 
 so long as they still have Russia and Afghanistan to count with.' — 
 Glasgotv Herald. 
 
 Supplementary Volume: price 3R. 6(7. 
 
 'JAMES THOMASON,' BY SIR RICHARD 
 TEMPLE. 
 
 ' Sir R. Temple's book possesses a high value as a dutiful and 
 interesting memorial of a man of lofty ideals, whose exploits were 
 none the less memorable because achieved exclusively in the field 
 of peaceful administration.' — Times. 
 
 ' It is the peculiar distinction of this work that it interests a reader 
 less in the official than in the man himself.' — Scotsman. 
 
 ' This is a most interesting book : to those who know India, and 
 knew the man, it is of unparalleled interest, but no one who has 
 the Imperial instinct which has taught the English to rule subject 
 races "for their own welfare" can fail to be struck by the simple 
 greatness of this character.' — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 ' Mr. Thomason was a great Indian statesman. He systematized 
 the revenue system of the North- West Provinces, and improved every 
 branch of the administration. He was remarkable, like many great 
 Indians, for the earnestness of his religious faith, and Sir Richard 
 Temple brings this out in an admirable manner.' — British Weekly. 
 
 ' The book is " a portrait drawn by the hand of affection," of one 
 whose life was " a pattern of how a Christian man ought to live." 
 Special prominence is given to the religious aspects of Mr. Thomason's 
 character, and the result is a very readable biographical sketch.' — 
 Christian.
 
 flDpiniong of tbz IPressi 
 
 ON 
 
 SIR AUCKLAND COLVIN'S *JOHN 
 RUSSELL COLVIN.' 
 
 ' The concluding volume of Sir William Hunter's admirable " Rulers 
 of India" series is devoted to a biography of John Russell Colvin. 
 Mr. Colvin, as private secretary to Lord Auckland, the Governor- 
 General during the first Afghan War, and as Lieutenant-Governor of 
 the North- West Provinces during the Mutiny, bore a prominent part 
 in the government of British India at two great crises of its history. 
 His biographer is his son, Sir Auckland Colvin, who does full justice to 
 his father's career and defends him stoutly against certain allegations 
 which have passed into history. ... It is a valuable and effective 
 contribution to an admirable series. In style and treatment of its 
 subject it is well worthy of its companions.' — Times. 
 
 ' The story of John Colvin's career indicates the lines on which the 
 true history of the first Afghan War and of the Indian Mutiny should 
 be written. . . . Not only has the author been enabled to make use 
 of new and valuable material, but he has also constructed therefrom 
 new and noteworthy explanations of the position of affairs at two turning- 
 points in Indian history.' — Academy. 
 
 ' High as is the standard of excellence attained by the volumes of 
 this series, Sir Auckland Colvin's earnest work has reached the high- 
 water mark.' — Army and Navy Gazette. 
 
 Sir Auckland Colvin gives us an admirable study of his subject, both 
 as a man of affairs and as a student in private life. In doing this, his 
 picturesque theme allows him, without outstepping the biographical 
 limits assigned, to present graphic pictures of old Calcutta and Indian 
 life in general.' — Manchester Courier. 
 
 ' This little volume contains pictures of India, past and present, which 
 it would be hard to match for artistic touch and fine feehng. We wish 
 there were more of the same kind to follow.' — St. James's Gazette. 
 
 *SIR HENRY LAWRENCE,' BY 
 GENERAL MCLEOD INNES. 
 
 ' An admirable account of the work done by one of the greatest and 
 most noble of the men who have adorned our Indian Empire. . . . No 
 man is better qualified to write about the defence of the Residency than 
 General Innes.' — Athenaeum. 
 
 ' We can cordially recommend this account of the modern Christian 
 hero.' — Academy. 
 
 ' A sympathetic sketch. General Innes tells his story with soldierly 
 brevity and a sturdy belief in his hero.' — Times. 
 
 ' The lessons taught by Sir Henry Lawrence's work in India are, 
 perhaps, at this moment as deserving of serious reflection as at any time 
 since his death. We welcome this excellent little biography of the 
 great soldier-civilian by a distinguished officer of exceptional knowledge 
 and experience.' — Daily Neios. 
 
 ' This book is a very good memoir, as nearly as possible what a book 
 of the kind should be.' — Scotsman. 
 
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