202 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 180o. 



territory, belonging to the company, 

 to be ceded to llolkar, and that the 

 country already usurped by him 

 should beheld under the solemn gua- 

 rantee of the company. 



That our readers may judge of 

 the propriety of the rejection of 

 Holkar's propositions, wc shall here 

 insert them in substance. 



Firstly, that he (Jeswunt Rao) 

 should be permitted to collect the 

 choute (or tribute) agreeably to the 

 custom of his ancestors. 



Secondly, that the possessions for- 

 merly held by the family, such as 

 Etaw ah (which formed part of the 

 possessions of the company, previ- 

 ously to the Mahratta war) twelve 

 distrifls in the Doab of the rivers 

 Jumna aud Ganges (also a part of the 

 British possessions) and a district in 

 Bundlecund should be ceded to him. 



Thirdly, that the country of Hur- 

 riana, which was formerly in the 

 possession of the family, should be 

 given to him ; and lastly, that the 

 country then actually in his pos- 

 session should be guaranteed by 

 the company, and that a treaty 

 should be concluded with him on 

 the same terms as that recently con- 

 cluded Avith Scindiah! 



It will readily be granted, that 

 these demands were of a nature so 

 extravagant, and, in every point of 

 Tievv, so entirely inadmissible, that 

 they must have been (as in faft they 

 were) positively reje6ted. 



The commander in chief referred 

 the vakeels to the terns already of- 

 fered by the British government, 

 and insisted upon Holkar's immedi- 

 ate return within his own territories, 

 as a preliminary to any negotiation. 



Notwithstanding the positive pro- 

 mise of Holkar, contained in his let- 

 ter to the commander in chief, " that 

 he would immediately withdraw his 



troops from their actual position,'* 

 the vakeels explicitly declared, that 

 their master "would not retire'' with 

 his troops, unless the demands now 

 brought forward should be complied 

 with. The Mhole language and de- 

 portment of the vakeels, was, indeed, 

 distinguished by an oftensive spirit of 

 arrogance and haughtiness, which 

 seemed to betray an expeftation, on 

 their part, that the British govern, 

 ment might be intimidated by an ex- 

 aggerated description of Holkar's 

 power and resources. 



Subsequently to the formal com- 

 munication of these demands, the 

 vakeels intimated to the command- 

 er in chief, that although the propo- 

 sitions already stated were in con- 

 formity to their instructions, they 

 were authorized to recede from 

 them, and to accept any provi- 

 sion, in lands or money, which the 

 British government should think 

 proper to assign to Holkar; the 

 commander in chief replied to this 

 proposal in the same terms as to the 

 preceding requisitions. Shortly af- 

 ter this conference, the vakeels 

 quitted the British camp, on their 

 return to that of their master. 

 ' Notwithstanding the unfavour- 

 able resuit of the conference with 

 Holkar's envoys, the commander 

 in chief addressed a second letter 

 to him, repeating the just and mo- 

 derate terms on which that chief- 

 tain might remain at peace, and 

 again desiring him to send, to the 

 British camp, a confidential person, 

 vested with sufficient powers to con- 

 clude a final arrangement. 



About the time of these proceed- 

 ings, a letter was addressed by Hol- 

 kar to the hon. major-general Wel- 

 lesley, commanding the British 

 army in the Deckan, apparently 

 written early in the month of Fe- 



bruarv. 



