691 



WELLINGTON, DUKE OP. 



WELLINGTON, DUKE OF. 



592 



supplied with provisions and other necessaries previous to sailing to 

 the lied Sea, and where he would be ready to receive final orders 

 from the governor-general. He sailed from Trincomalee about the 

 middle of February 1801, and arrived at Bombay about the middle of 

 March. The governor-general had appointed General Baird to com- 

 mand the Egyptian expedition, leaving to his brother the choice of 

 going under him as second in command, or retaining his own command 

 in Mysore. When Lord Mornington learnt that Colonel Welleeley 

 waa at Bombay with the whole Trincomalee force, he could not dis- 

 approve of this movement, as he had himself intended to send to the 

 Red Sea a larger body of men than that mentioned in the home 

 despatches, but still he thought it ought not to be set up as a prece- 

 dent, and he required an official explanation of the grounds aud 

 motives which had induced his brother thus to act upon his own 

 judgment, without waiting for orders. Colonel Wellesley stated his 

 motives at full length, in a letter, dated Bombay, March 23, 1801. 

 (' Dispatches,' vol. i.) He intended to have proceeded to the Red Sea, 

 and to have served under General Baird ; but on the 25th of March 

 ho was seized with fever, aud soon afterwards returned to his govern- 

 ment in Mysore. Before leaving Bombay he transmitted to General 

 Baird a memorandum which he had written concerning the operations 

 in the Red Sea, evincing the research and reflection which he had 

 bestowed on his anticipated command. 



Colonel Wellesley made a second stay in Mysore of nearly two years. 

 He was raised to the rank of Major-General in April 1802, and in 

 February 1803 he was appointed to command a force intended to 

 march into the Mahratta territory. 



Civil war raged between the Mahratta chiefs Holkar and Scindia. 

 The Peishwa, the nominal head of the Mahratta confederation, was 

 looked upon as an instrument in the hands of the strongest. Dowlut 

 Rao Scindia, who ruled over Malwa and Candeish, had an army of 

 regular infantry and artillery, which had been formed by his father, 

 with the assistance of M. de Boigne, a native of Savoy, and was now 

 under the direction of a French officer of the name of Perron. Scindia 

 exercised paramount influence over the Peiahwa at Poonah. Holkar, 

 another ambitious chieftain, who had long been at variance with 

 Scindia, suddenly crossed the Nerbudda and marched with a large 

 cavalry force on Pooiiah, which he entered after defeating the com- 

 bined army of Scindia and the Peishwa. The Peishwa escaped to the 

 coast, and put himself under British protection, whilst Holkar placed 

 one of his relations on the seat of power at Poonah. 



The Madras army, under Lieutenant-General Stuart, was ordered to 

 advance into the Mahratta territory for the purpose of reinstating 

 the Peishwa, and Major General Wellesley was appointed to command 

 a select corps in advance, with which he marched rapidly upon 

 Poonah. Having received information on the road that Holkar's 

 people intended to burn the town on his approach, he moved on with 

 the cavalry, and, performing a march of 60 miles in 30 hours, reached 

 Poonah on the 20th of April, and thus saved the town. Holkar's 

 people retired without fighting, and in the following month the 

 Peishwa re-entered his capital Scindia however and the Raja of 

 Berar, another powerful Mahratta chief, were together in the field 

 making hostile demonstrations against the English and their ally the 

 Nizam, and they were understood to be in correspondence with Hol- 

 kar, who was to join the league. Seeing this state of affairs, which 

 was yet more dangerous at a moment when by the peace of Amiens 

 the French had just recovered their Indian possessions, the governor- 

 general appointed General Wellesley to the chief command of all the 

 British and allied troops serving in the territories of the Peishwa and 



of about 10,000 troops of all arms, Europeans and natives, including 

 the 19th Dragoons and the 74th Foot. After some fruitless nego- 

 ciations with Scindia, General Wellesley marched from Poonah to the 

 north, and took by escalade the town of Ahmednuggur, which was 

 garrisoned by Scindia's troops. On the 24th of August he crossed the 

 river Godavery, and entered Aurungabad on the 29th. The enemy 

 manifested an intention to cross the river to the eastward and steal a 

 march upon Hyderabad, but were prevented by General Wellesley 

 marching along the left bank of the river, and placing himself between 

 them and that city. On the 12th of September the British general 

 was encamped 20 miles north of the Godavery. Colonel Stevenson, 

 with the Nizam's auxiliary force, was at some distance from him. 

 Scindia, who had a large mass of irregular cavalry, avoided a general 

 engagement, being afraid of British discipline, and only thought of 

 carrying on a predatory warfare. 



About the middle of September, General Wellesley learnt that 

 Scindia had been reinforced by 16 battalions of infantry commanded 

 by French officers, and a large train of artillery, and that the whole 

 of his force was assembled near the banks of the small river Kaitna. 

 On the 21st of September General Wellesley had a conference with 

 Colonel Stevenson, in which a general plan of attack on the enemy 

 was concerted. The General and the Colonel advanced by two parallel 

 routes round the hiils, so as to fall at the same time upon the enemy. 

 General Wellesley on the 23rd received a report that Scindia and the 

 Rajah of Berar had moved off in the morning with their cavalry, and 

 that the infantry were about to follow, but were still in camp at the 



distance of about six miles. General Wellesley determined to march 

 upon the infantry, and engage it at once. He sent a messenger to 

 Colonel Stevenson, then about eight miles on his left, to inform him 

 of his intention, and directing his advance. He moved forward with 

 the 19th Light Dragoons and three regiments of native cavalry to 

 reconnoitre. The infantry, consisting of two British and five native 

 battalions, followed. After a march of about four miles he saw from 

 an elevated plain not only the infantry, but the whole Mahratta force, 

 consisting of nearly 50,000 men, encamped on the north side of the 

 river Kaitna; the right, consisting of cavalry, was about Bokerdou, 

 and extended to their corps of infantry, which was encamped near the 

 village of Assaye, with 90 pieces of artillery. General Wellealey 

 determined on attacking the infantry on its left and rear. He moved 

 his little army to a ford beyond the enemy's left, and, leaving the 

 Mysore and other irregular cavalry to watch that of the enemy, he 

 crossed the river with his regular horse and infantry, and having 

 ascended the bank, which was steep, formed his men in three lines, 

 two of infantry and the third of cavalry. This was effected under a 

 brisk cannonade from the enemy's guns. Scindia at the same time 

 made a corresponding movement in his line, by giving a new front to 

 his infantry, which was made to rest its right upon the river Kaitna, 

 and its left upon the village of Assaye and the Juah stream. His 

 numerous and well-served cannon did fearful execution among the 

 British advancing lines. General Wellesley, seeing this, gave orders 

 to abandon the artillery, and for the infantry to charge with the 

 bayonet. The charge proved irresistible on the right and centre of the 

 enemy ; the British took possession of the guns, and the enemy's 

 infantry gave way. But the British right suffered a very severe loss 

 from the guns at the village of Assaye, and the enemy's cavalry, seeing 

 the gaps thus made in the ranks, charged the 74th regimeut, when 

 Colonel Maxwell, with the 19th Dragoons, rode to its rescue, and 

 drove back the assailants with great loss. ' The native infantry in the 

 British service proceeding too far in the pursuit, many of the enemy's 

 artillerymen, who had thrown themselves down among the carriages 

 of their guns, as if they were dead, turned their pieces against the 

 advancing infantry, and at the same time several of Scindia's batta- 

 lions formed themselves again, thus placing the sepoys between two 

 fires. Colonel Maxwell charged and dispersed thoie battalions, but he 

 lost his life. The 78th British regiment, which was ou the left of the 

 line, remained firm wilh unbroken ranks in the midst of the confusion, 

 and contributed greatly to check the enemy. General Wellesley led 

 the regiment in person against the village of A.ssaye, where the enemy 

 made the stoutest resistance, but at last gave way. It was near dark 

 when the firing ceased. The enemy retired in great disorder, leaving 

 behind the whole of his artillery, ammunition, and stores. Colonel 

 Stevenson arrived ou the field after the battle, and undertook the pur- 

 suit. The loss of the united army, British and native, in this splendid 

 victory consisted of 22 officers and 386 men killed, and 57 officers and 

 1526 men wounded, in all nearly one-third of the force engaged, exclu- 

 sive of the irregular cavalry. The enemy left more than 1200 dead 

 and a great number of wounded on the field of battle. General 

 Wellesley had two horses killed under him, and his orderly's head 

 was torn away by a cannon-ball as he rode beside him. 



While General Wellesley was defeating tbe Mahrattas in the south, 

 General Lake gained a complete victory at Allyghur, in the plains of 

 Hindustan, over another part of their force under M. Perron, which 

 had occupied Delhi. The Mahratta power was now broken, and after 

 several marches and countermarches, and desultory uegociations, 

 Scindia asked and obtained a truce at the beginning of November; 

 but the Raja of Berar still kept the field, and General Wellesley, 

 coming up with him in the plains of Argaum, found Scindia's cavalry, 

 together with the Raja's forces, drawn up in battle array. The battle 

 of Argaum was fought November 29, 1803. The British line advanced 

 in the best order. The 74th and 78th regiments were attacked by a 

 large body of Persian mercenaries in the service of the Raja of Berar, 

 which was entirely destroyed. Scindia's cavalry charged one of the 

 Company's regiments, and was repulsed, when the whole Mahratta 

 line retired in disorder, leaving 38 pieces of cannon and all their 

 ammunition in the hands of the British. The British cavalry pursued 

 the enemy for several miles, taking many elephants, camels, and much 

 baggage. Colonel Stevenson soon after took by storm the strong fort 

 of Gawilghur, and this exploit concluded the campaign. The Raja of 

 Berar now sued for peace, and General Wellesley drew up the con- 

 ditions of the treaty, by which the Raja ceded to the Company the 

 province of Cuttack with the district of Balasore, and dismissed his 

 European officers. Scindia was glad to follow the example, and on 

 the 30th of December he signed a treaty of peace, by which he ceded 

 to the Company all the country between the Jumna and the Ganges, 

 besides numerous forts. In February 1804, General Wellesley crossed 

 the Godavery to put down the independent freebooting parties which 

 were carrying devastation through the West Deccan. Following them 

 rapidly from hill to hill, he gradually dispersed them, and took their 

 guns, ammunition, and baggage. Peace was thus restored to the 

 peninsula of India. 



In March 1804, General Wellesley paid a visit to Bombay, where he 

 was received with marked honour aud loud acclamations, and an 

 address of the British inhabitants of Bombay was presented to him, as 

 a commander " equally great in the cabinet as in the field." The 



