HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



209 



Mahratta affairs, it is scarcely ne- 

 cessary to advert to the dangers to 

 which the British interests would 

 hare been exposed, in 1S02, if Jes- 

 M'unt Rao Holkar had been per- 

 mitted to prosecnte his successes 

 against the Peishwa and Scindia, 

 and to unite, in his own person, by 

 their reduction, all the resources of 

 the two principal branches of the 

 Mahratta state, in addition to thor.e 

 of the Holkar family, which he had 

 usurped in the Deckan and in 

 Malwa. That danger was solely 

 averted by the treaty of Basseeu, 

 and the successful issue of the late 

 war! — Both measures of the mar- 

 quis Wellesley's government. 



At the same time, notwithstand- 

 ing the vexatious interruption of 

 tranquillity in Indiajbj' the renewed 

 war with Holkar and his adherents, 

 the most perfect cordiality and con- 

 fidence continue to subsist between 

 the company and the Peishwa, as 

 well as with the Guickwar state, 

 while the alliances with the Nizam 

 and the Mysore still exist with 

 unabated friendship, efficacy, and 

 strength. 



The peace with Scindia, and the 

 Berar rajah, has not been inter- 

 rupted by the recent disturbances, 

 and although the conduct of those 

 chiefs has occasionally betrayed 

 symptoms of the spirit of intrigue 

 and duplicity, inseparable from the 

 Mahratta character, no reason ex- 

 ists to justify any apprehension of 

 danger to the stability of the trea- 

 ties existing between the company 

 and those powers. Such are the 

 consequences of the enlightened 

 policy of the late government in 

 India. 



We shall nov? offer a few obscr- 

 Tafions, which we think it right to 



Vol. XLVII. 



lay before our readers, relative to 

 the return of the marquis Wellesley 

 to Europe, from his government ia 

 India, as it has been the obvious 

 design of the enemies of that illus- 

 trious character to impress the 

 public mind with a belief, that his 

 lordship's conduct, during his ad- 

 ministration, had been disapproved 

 by his majesty's ministers, and that 

 the disapprobation of those high 

 authorises had occasioned the 

 peremptory recal of lord Wellesley, 

 and an abrupt supercession of his 

 lordship, by the marquis Corn- 

 wallis. 



Such an impression so evidently 

 tends to diminish that just reward of 

 his public services, which his lord- 

 ship is highly entitled to look for 

 in the gratitude and applause of his 

 countiy, and is so entirely incom- 

 patible with a correct knowledge of 

 the real facts connected with his 

 lordship's return to England, that 

 we consider it a duty which we owe 

 to the cause of impartial justice, to 

 state the following particulars oa 

 the subject, which have been col- 

 lected froin the first and best sources 

 of information. 



For a considerable period of 

 time, previously to the appointment 

 of lord Cornwallis to the govern- 

 ment of India, in the month of 

 December, 1804, it was well knowa 

 to his majesty's ministers and to the 

 court of diredtors, that lord Wel- 

 lesley was desirous of returning to 

 England, his lordship having ap- 

 plied to the government at home for 

 that purpose. In the year 1802, 

 lord Wellesley actually resigned the 

 government of India, and signified 

 his intention of embarking for 

 Europe, at the close of the year 

 1803, but at the special request of 



P his 



