EXPLOITS OF POPHAM AND CAMAC. 145 



under the want of battering-cannon, he could effect only a 

 very imperfect breach. He determined, however, to storm 

 it ; and, though both the officers who led the assault fell, 

 the troops followed with such intrepidity that the place was 

 carried, with the loss of 125 men. But the most brilliant 

 exploit was that against Gvvalior, a fortress repeatedly 

 mentioned as being considered in Hindostan Proper the most 

 formidable bulwark of the empire, though it could not rank 

 with the impregnable hill-forts of the south and west. 

 After two months of observation and contrivance, on the 

 3d August, 1780, a party was employed to make a night- 

 assault. They mounted the scarped rock by scaling-lad- 

 ders, then ran up the steep face of the hill, and by ladders 

 of rope ascended the inner wall, thirty feet high, when 

 they found themselves within the place. Some of the men 

 gave the alarm by firing prematurely ; yet they stood 

 their ground ; the garrison were confused and terrified, and 

 the sun had scarcely risen, when the British troops, with 

 almost no resistance, became masters of this celebrated 

 fortress. 



In pursuance of the same system, Mr. Hastings sent 

 Colonel Camac to carry the war into the territories of 

 Sindia. He penetrated without difficulty into Malwa ; but 

 the Mahratta chief then hastened to oppose the invasion, 

 and by the rapid manoeuvres of his numerous cavalry soon 

 reduced the British to great distress ; at the same time he 

 kept up for seven days an incessant cannonade. The 

 colonel, however, by remaining for some time inactive, 

 lulled the suspicions of the enemy, then suddenly burst by 

 night into his camp, and defeated him with great loss. Al- 

 though he was not able to follow up this success, it raised 

 considerably the reputation of the English, who also suc- 

 ceeded, by a large sum of money, in detaching Moodajee 

 Bhonslay, Rajah of Berar, from the other Mahratta chiefs. 

 Thus, after various transactions, a separate convention was 

 first concluded with Sindia on the 13th October, 1781 ; 

 and, finally, on the 7th May, 1782, a general peace was 

 signed at Salbye, on terms as favourable as the checkered 

 events of the war could give room to expect. The limits 

 of the respective territories were fixed nearly on the same 

 footing as by the treaty of Poorundur ; and a monthly pen- 

 sion of 25,000 rupees was assigned to Ragoba. Thus 



Vot. II.— N 



