HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



503 



bruary, 1804, demanding the cession 

 of certain districts in that coun- 

 try, as the condition of peace, and 

 adding that, in the event of war, 

 although unable to oppose the Bri- 

 tish artillery in the field, " coun- 

 tries of many hunured coss should 

 be OTcr-run, and plundered and 

 burnt ; that the British com- 

 mander in chief should not have 

 leisure to breathe for a moment ; 

 and that calamities would fall on 

 lacs, (hundreds of thousands), of 

 human beings in continued war, by 

 the attacks ot his (Holkar's) army, 



"WHICU OVtUMHELMS LIKE THE 

 WAVES OF THE SEA." 



Although this insolent and hostile 

 declaration, combined with the other 

 facts v.hich have been stated rela- 

 tive to Holkar's conduct, would 

 have abundantly justified immedi. 

 ate ho'^filities, the governor-general 

 determined to await the result of 

 the negociation which was still de- 

 pending under his orders. 



Jeswunt llao Ilolkar. in his re- 

 ply to the second letter of the com- 

 mander \n chief, evaded an answer 

 to the proposition contained in it, 

 and required a comnuinication of 

 the leading articles of the arrange- 

 ment proposed by. the British go- 

 vernment, previously to his dis- 

 patching a confidential agent to the 

 British camp ; a letter was, at the 

 same time, received from the princi- 

 pal minister of Ilolkar, by a British 

 officc-T, who had been employed by 

 the commander-in-chief in the nego. 

 ciation, " renewing the demands 

 which had been formerly brought 

 forward by the vaketls, and decid- 

 edly rejected by the commander-in- 

 chief," 



The commander-in-chief, in reply 

 to Holkar's second letter, received 

 on the 4th April, ISOl, recalled 



the attention of the chief to the in- 

 dulgence and forbearance already 

 manifested towards him by the Bri- 

 tish government, and exhorted him 

 to adopt the only line of conduct 

 consistent with his true interests and 

 with the preservation of peace. 



Adverting, therefore, to the letters 

 of Jeswunt Rao Holkar and of his 

 minister, to the renewal of those 

 extravagant and inadmissible de- 

 mands, which had already been pos 

 tively rejected by the comraander- 

 in chief, and to the evasive and de- 

 ceitful condiift of the JVlahratrah 

 leader, throughout his long protract- 

 ed negociation ; it is evident that, 

 under all these consider3.tions, no just 

 expectation could be entertained of 

 efloctins any pacific arrangement 

 with Jiolkar, on terms compatible 

 with the security of the British in- 

 terests and those of its allies, or 

 wiih the honour and dignity of the 

 British government ; while it is 

 equally clear, from every fact and 

 circumstance which has been stated, 

 tiiat tl>e British government display- 

 ed the greatest lenity and indulgence 

 towards Ilolkar, in its repeated en- 

 deavours, from January to April, 

 1804, to bring that chieftain to a 

 pacific adjustment of all differences ; 

 and that a further continuance of 

 those fruitless endeavours could only 

 have tended to encourage his preda- 

 tory designs, to augment his means 

 of carrying them into effect within 

 the company's possessions, and to in- 

 volve the British government in great 

 additional ex pence and difficidty. 



Having thus established, in the 

 second place, the moderation and 

 forbearance of the British govern- 

 ment towards Jeswunt R.ao Holkar, 

 we shall now conclude with a few 

 general remarks upon the conduct 

 of the British government in this in. 

 'J stance. 



