HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



207 



kan, under the able direcdon of 

 major general Wcllesley, whose 

 brilliant career in India was not yet 

 terminated, were successfully em- 

 ployed in the reduction of the strong 

 fortress of Chandore, and of 'he 

 other possessions of Ilolkar in that 

 quarter, the indefatig<:b!c and heroic 

 commander in chief of the British 

 forces in India, lord Lake, had, by 

 a series of the most able and rapid 

 movements, compelled the cavalry 

 and infantry of the Mahrattah 

 chieftain to risk actions with the 

 British troops, productive to their 

 leader of the most disastrous conse- 

 quences, and which finally led to his 

 entire subjugation. 



On the 13th day of IN^ovembcr, 

 1S04, general Frascr attacked the 

 artillery and infantry of Holkar, 

 near the fortress of Deeg, and ob- 

 tained a most signal victory. The 

 force of the enemy, amounted to 

 twenty-four battalions of infantry, 

 a body of irregular horse, and one 

 hundred and sixty pieces of ord- 

 nance ! He was driven from a po- 

 sition of the greatest strength, and 

 left a prey to the conquerors, 

 won at the point of the bayonet, of 

 eighty seven pieces of artillery ! 



This victory was, however, dearly 

 purchased, by the death of the brave 

 and gallant general Fraser, who re- 

 ceived a mortal wound in this me- 

 morable action, the result of almost 

 unexampled skill, courage, and ac- 

 tivity. General Fraser was interred 

 at Aluttra, on the2oth of November, 

 1804-, " the last sad honours due to 

 his rank having been paid by that 

 part of the army, which he had 

 so lately led to victory and to' 

 glory !" 



During these operations, lord 

 I^ke, the commander in chief, with 

 six regiments of cavalry, and the 



reserve of the army in the field, after 

 marching a distance of four hundred 

 and fourteen miles in eighteen days, 

 succeeded, on the 17th of November, 

 1S04, in surprising the whole force 

 of the cavalry of the enemy, under 

 the personal command of Holkar, 

 near the city of Furruckabad, and, 

 after a most rapid and extraordi- 

 nary march of seventy miles, without 

 rest, obtained a most glorious and 

 complete victory. Vast numbers of 

 the enemy's troops and horses were 

 destroyed ; the whole of his draught 

 bullocks and baggage captured; 

 and Holkar himself escaped from 

 the disastrous field with the utmost 

 diiBcultj'. 



Notwithstanding these successes, 

 splendid in themselves, and produc- 

 tive in their consequences of the 

 greatest advantages to the British 

 power, and its national character, 

 the war in India was most unex- 

 pectedly protracted, by the unac- 

 countable, unwarrantable, and trea- 

 cherous defection from the com- 

 pany, of the vajah of Bhurtpore, 

 who, at this critical conjuncture, 

 violated his alliance with the British 

 power, and joined its enemy in the 

 field ! This conduct, extraordinary 

 as it was, was the less to be appre- 

 hended or even thought of, as it was 

 wcU known, throughout India, that, 

 in addition to the many other bene- 

 fits which that personage had recei- 

 ved at tiie hands of, and in conse- 

 quence of his alliance with, the com- 

 pany, the British government, as a 

 mark of unconditional favour, had 

 actually transferred to him a portion 

 of the territories to the westward of 

 the river Jumna, which had been 

 recently conquered from the confe- 

 derated Mahrattah chieftains in the 

 late war. Those cessions were 

 equal in value to ouc third ot the 



ancient 



