198 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



Notwitlistanding these friendly 

 OTcrturr^ on the part of Holkar 

 towarrls Sciiuiit.h, tl'.e former, in the 

 true spirit ol his troarherous and pre- 

 datory habits, about the same time, 

 made an hostile attack upon Scin- 

 diah's fort an'J territoiy of Ajmere; 

 in consequence of this aggression 

 on the part of Holkar against Scin- 

 diah, a vakeel was dispatched by 

 Dowlat Rao tor the purpose of ex- 

 postulating with Holkar, ajid of ob- 

 taining the most accurate informa- 

 tioii as to the real designs of that 

 chieftain. 



Scindiah's vakeel was rcctived by 

 Holkar with marks of peculiar dis- 

 tinction, and 'he latter txplicitly de- 

 clared to liini hiS intention " to di- 

 rect his predatory forces against the 

 British possessions." With respect 

 to the fort and territory of Aj- 

 mere, he stated •' that he was coui- 

 *' pelled, against his will, to that 

 " act by the peremptory rcqnisi- 

 *' tions of the rajah of Jodepoor, 

 *' with whom he intended to leave 

 *' his family, when he commenced 

 " his operations against the Eng- 

 " lish ; and he therefore hoped 

 " that Scindiah would excuse his 

 *' conduct in that instance, as it 

 *' was a matter of necessity, and 

 *' not of choice, to which he had 

 *' submitted solely with a view to 

 *' enable him to prosecute a war 

 *' against the company, which in- 

 " volved the indoj)endcnce of the 

 " Mahrattah empire !" 



The concurrent report of messcn- 

 eers, wh) had been dispatclied, for 

 iutelligence from Nagpoor, to the 

 camp of Jeswunt iiao Holkar, 

 corroborated this statement with re- 

 spect to the declared intention of 

 that chieftain to '• carry on a preda- 

 tory w.:»T against the British jlosscs- 



SikJlle." 



In addition to these avowed ift- 

 tcutioris of hostility on the part of 

 Holkar, that chieftain had ad- 

 vanced towards the frontiers of 

 the ally of the company, the rajah 

 of Jcynaghur, and occupied a po- 

 sition with the main body of his 

 forces, T, hich inilicxited a design of 

 violating the territories of the rajah ; 

 and which, from its menacing aspect, 

 rendered it necessary to retain the 

 British army in the field, under the 

 personal command of the command- 

 er in chief, although the most im- 

 portant considerations of policy, 

 and especially of economy, required, 

 at the same time, that the British 

 army should, as early as possible, be 

 established at the separate stations, 

 fixed for its permanent position. 



The proofs, however, of Holkar's 

 hostile designs, are not confined to 

 the instances which have been already 

 stated : — A letter was delivered to 

 the British commander in chief by 

 the rajah of Macherry, one of the 

 company's allies, addressed to the 

 rajah, by Jeswunt Kao Holkar, the 

 objet't of which was to detach that 

 chieftain from his alliance with the- 

 British government ; and a further 

 correspondence, of a nature hostile 

 to the British interests, was discover, 

 ed between Holkar and several per- 

 sons owing allegiance to the British 

 government ; while every previous 

 instance of an hostile disposition on 

 the part of Jeswunt Rao was aggra- 

 vated by the deliberate and barbar- 

 ous murder of three British subjects 

 in his service, on a false charge of a 

 correspondence between one of those 

 officers and the commander in chief 

 of the British forces ! 



Referring to these combined facts, 

 it seems impo'isible to doubt, but that 

 Such of the possessions of the com- 

 pany aud ©f its allies, as might be 



accessible 





