£00 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



Tippo Snltatin, in thp year 1789. — 

 IsVitlier Sciitdia, nor Bliooiisla, (the 

 lajah ofBt-rar,) were parties to this 

 alliance, whicii was, indeed, in op- 

 position to their separate designs. 

 The former, hardly then concealing 

 his intentions of rendering the olHce 

 of the peishwa subscrrient to his 

 views upon the supreme authority, 

 and the latter claiming rhat great 

 oflice for him'ielf, in right of his de- 

 scent from the family of Sevagee, 

 the ancestor of the rajah of Sattarah, 

 and founder of the Mahratta pow- 

 er. 



On the division, therefore, of 

 TippoSuitaun's dominions and trea- 

 sure, which took eiFect af!er tlie 

 treaty of Seringapatam, in 17&7, the 

 pcishwa obtained a considrral)lc 

 accession of territory, and a large 

 sum of money, without the consent 

 or participation of any of the other 

 chiefs of (he iLih.atta, Ixjdy ; nor 

 Avhen, in the course of the following 

 . year, tJ:e marquis Cornwallis 

 proposed a general alliance to the 

 Mahratta power, did he n)ake any 

 proportion to the several chiefs, 

 but addressed liiraself solely to the 

 constitutional reprcsentatix; of the 

 sovereign executive authority of the 

 JMahratta empire. 



in the interval of time, between 

 the peace of Seringapatam and the 

 commencement of the manjuis Wd- 

 Jesley's administration in India, the 

 ambition and rapacity of Dowlut 

 Kao Scindiah, (who had succeeded 

 Madhagee Scindiah, in 1704,) had 

 impaired the authority of the peish.. 

 wa, to such a degree as to frus- 

 trate every benefit, which the 

 treaty of Poona.h was calculated to 

 secure to iheBritish inrerests : — At 

 the latter period, he was not only 

 iu possession of the person, and pos- 

 sessed the nominal authority of the 



unfortunate Shah Aulnm, the de- 

 posed Mogul emperor, but had for 

 siv years kept Bajee Rao, the 

 reigning peishwa, in a state of the 

 utmost degradation, and governed 

 the councils ofthj court of I'oonah, 

 near which he had established him- 

 sclf with a powerful army, with al- 

 most absolute authority. By the 

 perverse and overbearing influence 

 »f that chieftain, notwithstanding 

 the a))parent concurrence of the 

 pcishwa in the necessity and jus- 

 tice of the Mysorean war, in 1798, 

 tije Mahratta stati's not only af- 

 forded no assistance to tl«e British 

 government, in its prosecution, but 

 actually maintained a secret and 

 treaclicrous correspondence with 

 Tippo Snltaun, until the fall of Se- 

 ringapatam. And, even after that 

 memorable event, the emissaries of 

 their government, entirely subject- 

 ed to the dominion of Scindia, at- 

 tempted to excite the family and re- 

 maining oificers of the deceased sul. 

 taun to resist the settlement of My- 

 sore. 



Again, when, on the division of 

 Tippo Sultaun's dominions, a consi. 

 derable territory was olfercd to the 

 pt'isliwa, notwithstanding the total 

 failure of the latter, in discharging 

 those obligations, imposed by tha 

 terms of the alliance concluded be- 

 tween the marquis Cornwallis and 

 the Mahratta poAver, he was induced 

 to decline the profl'eredgrant ; as did 

 Sciiuiiah himself propositions of the 

 most amicable nature, from tha 

 same quarter, and at the same 



pt'.iiod. 



In order to avert, as much as 

 possible, the consequences of sucii 

 an hostile spirit as was thus mani- 

 fested, and to effect such an arrange- 

 ment as should preclude the possi- 

 bility of any union of the Mahratta 



states, 



