SCO 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



vernment, during that period, to 

 molest Jcswunt Rao Holkar ; nnd 

 tlic govcnior-general, the marquis 

 Welleslpy, in his instructions to the 

 hon. major-generanVellesiey, under 

 date 12th June, 1803, " positively 

 prohibited'' that officer from prose, 

 cuting hostilities against liolkar, 

 merely for the purpose of obtaining 

 indemnity for the depredations com- 

 mitted by that chieftain on the terri- 

 tory of the nizam, or for any other 

 predatory incursion. 



Subsequently, howcTcr, to the 

 conclusion of peace between the 

 British government in India, and 

 the confederated Mahrattah chief- 

 tains, the menacing position which 

 Holkar had assumed towards the 

 British government and some of its 

 allies, together with the numerous 

 other indications of hostile designs, 

 on the part of Holkar, which have 

 already been noticed in the foregoing 

 pages, appeared to the governor- 

 general to render it indispensa- 

 bly necessary, either to adopt mea- 

 sures for the reduction of Holkar's 

 force, or to frame some arrang- 

 mcnt with him, which, without com- 

 promising the dignity of the British 

 g^ivernment, and without violating 

 the genct'al principles of justice, or 

 the acknowledged rights of other 

 utates and chieftains, might render it 

 Iheinterest of Jeswnnt Rao Holkar, 

 to abandon his predatory habits, and 

 might preclude the necessity of an 

 expensive permanent military esta- 

 blishment for the defence of the Bri- 

 tish territori(s, and those of our al- 

 lies, against the incursions of that ac- 

 tive anti unprincipled freebooter. 



It would have been inconsistent 

 ■with the principles of justice, for the 

 British government to have entered 

 into any engagements with Jeswnnt 

 liao Holkar; iurolving the furiual 



sanction of that chieftain's usurpati- 

 on, to the exclusion of his brother 

 Cashee Rao If olkar from his here- 

 difary dominions. But, on the other 

 hand, no obligation was imposed on 

 the British government, by any exist- 

 ing e^igagement, to assert the right* 

 of Cashee Rao Holkar against his il- 

 legitimate brother. With this limita- 

 tion, the British government was at 

 liberty to act, on this occasion, exclu- 

 sively, according to the dictates of po" 

 licy and expediency. The governor- 

 general therefore ultimately deter- 

 mined to authorise the commander- 

 chitf to conclude an 



in 



agreement 



M'ith Jeswunt Rao Holkar, engaging, 

 on the part of the British govern- 

 ment, to leave that chieftain in " the 

 unmolested exercise of his autho- 

 rity," provided only, that he should, 

 on his part, engage to abstain from 

 any act of aggression against the 

 British government or its allies. 



With a view to such an arrange- 

 ment, the commander in chief was, 

 on the 17th January, 1804, dircdted 

 to signify to Holkar, that the Bri- 

 tish government entertained the most 

 amicable dispositions towards him, 

 and harboured no intention of com- 

 mencing hostilities, unless compelled 

 to that extremity, by acts of aggres- 

 sion, on his part, against the British 

 ■government, or any of its allies ; — 

 that the British government would 

 abstain, with the greatest caution, 

 from any unsolicited interference ia 

 the concerns of Jeswunt Rao Hoi. 

 kar, beyond the limits, required for 

 the protection and security of the 

 rights and territories of the British 

 power and its allies ; requiring only 

 that he should manifest a similar 

 conduct, by abstaining entirely from 

 all operations of an hostile tenden- 

 cy, and by withdrawing his troops 

 from any positioa which they might 



