HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



10\ 



states, under circumstances -vvhich 

 might menace interruption to thu 

 tranquillity of the British posses. 

 sions, and to which the great and 

 increasinj power of Scindiah mani- 

 festly led, the governor general con- 

 eluded a subsidiary treaty with the 

 Guickvrar, in 1&0'2, the operation 

 of which firmly attached that chit;f 

 to thi', interests of the company, 

 and secured to it a valuable and im- 

 portant territorial establishment in 

 the maritime province of Ciuzcrat. 

 Uut the great object of marquis 

 Welleslcy's endeavours was, to 

 establish between the pelshwa and 

 the British governmeat suchp.con- 

 ne<5lion as might socure the stability 

 and efficiency of his authority, under 

 the protetTtiiJn of the British power, 

 without injury to the rights of the feu- 

 datory chieftains of the Mahratta 

 empire. An arrangement wliicli, 

 if carried into eliect, would be the 

 best security for preserving a due 

 balance between the several states 

 constituting the confederacy of the 

 Alahrattas, as well as for prevent- 

 ing any dangerous union or diver- 

 sion of the vast resources of that 

 empire. 



To these wise and masterly mea- 

 sures, the comprehcn-ivc mind of 

 the marquis Weilesley was stimu- 

 lated by another powerful motive, 

 it had ever been a principle of the 

 British government to prevent the 

 sovereign power of the Mahratta> 

 state, or any great branch of its 

 empire, from passing into the hands 

 of France. Such an event was not 

 only possible, but even much to be 

 dreaded, from the situation in which 

 the dissentions of the different Mah- 

 ratta chieftains had placed their 

 country, at the commencement of 

 the year 1802, and which aft'orded 

 but too favourable an opportunity 



to the government of France to 

 establish a dominion withhi the pe- 

 ninsula, by the introdu(?tion of 

 a military force, for the pur- 

 pose of aiding one of the con- 

 tending parties. In this objcdt, 

 the views of France would have 

 been materially favoured by the 

 strength and elliciency of the force 

 under .M. Perron, a Frenchman in 

 the scrTice and pay of Sciudia, in 

 whose confidence he possessed the 

 first place, and over whose councils 

 he possessed unlimited influence. — 

 This formidable military establish- 

 ment, consisted of 38,000 regular 

 infantry, 8000 cavalry, and about 

 300 Europeans, (of whom not more 

 than 30 were British subjc6ts,) fur- 

 nished with a train of 120 pieces of 

 iron, and upwards of 1.50 pieces of 

 brass ordnance. This force was form- 

 ed into brigades, officered by Euro- 

 pean ad veTiturerSjChiefly Frenchmen, 

 and disciplined on the European sys- 

 tem. It wasfarthcr established with a 

 great territorial dominion, extending 

 towards the left bank of the Indui 

 through the Punjaub, and compre- 

 hcndiiig Agra, Delhi, and a large 

 portion of the Douab of the Ganges, 

 on the most vulnerable part of the 

 British north v.estern frontier in 

 Hiudostan ; and to which also was 

 cosnuiitted the custody of the de- 

 posed Mogul emperor. Shah Aulum. 

 Under theye circumstances it was, 

 that the governor general determined 

 to renew his negotiations, in the 

 month of June 1802, for the con- 

 clusion of an improved system of 

 alliance with the court of Poonah. 

 The increased distractions of the 

 IVIahratta state, and the successes 

 of Jeswunt Rao Ilolkar against the 

 forces of Scindiah, appeared to con- 

 stitute a crisis favourable to tht; 

 establishmeat of the British power 



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