146 



MAHRATTA WAR. 



closed the first Mahratta war, by which our countrymen, it 

 must be confessed, had earned very little either of glory or 



Fromlhis time the relations of that people with our gov- 

 ernment were for many years those of amity and alliance. 

 Ihis union was produced by common dread of the exorbi- 

 tant power and pretensions of the house of Mysore ' We 

 have seen them united with the British in successive leases' 

 and affording a loose and tumultuary- aid in the comets 

 which overthrew the power of Tippoo. The history of the 

 confederation, however, was remarkably distinguished by 

 the rise of Sindia to a pre-eminence which made him de- 

 cidedly superior to all its other leaders. His territory beinrr 

 contiguous to the southern states and to the fragments of 

 the Mogul empire, he added to it successively these differ- 

 ent possessions. On the east he subdued Bundelcund ; on 

 the west he rendered tributary the warlike princes of 

 Kajpootana At length, amid the dissensions of the impe- 

 rial court, .Shah Allum, retaining still the name, revered 

 even in its downfall, of Mosul emperor, placed himself 

 under the protection of Sindia. That chief thus became 

 master of Agra, Delhi, and the surrounding territories • 

 and he exercised all that now remained of imperial power'. 

 He was so elated by these successes that he ventured upon 

 a demand of chout or tribute from the government of Ben- 



& * cla ™,| vmch ?'" Mac P herso ". *en governor, repelled 

 with the highest indignation, and insisted upon its formal 

 renunciation. y ral 



-J? i X!! ?]""£*! P osition was ^ other respects precarious 

 and difficult. Labouring under an extreme deficiency of 

 funds, he wu , obliged I to levy exorbitant contributions from 



and IT t£St Jt* pr ° U<] mCe ro ^ m infection, 

 tnl^ JOmed ,. by Moh;im "" 11 Beg : ""1 Gholaum Kawdir 

 nf 7t m T V, f t0 . the ° mf,rror hi,nse,f ' ^ domination 

 of R-?ino air v n,lcr W b f come Odious ' In «■ »™«°n 



fa£?C2^w " r,,,,, l l1 "" lv defe »tod, anu though the 

 feudal bands of that country, as usual after a victor?', dis- 



SS tJ, W6nt t0 U,Plr h °" 1 * S Sm,lia "» »™ ""able to 

 res.st he power even of the Moslem princes. He was 



again defeated and reduced to the greatest extremity, when 



v«™Id f ' 1 th °;'"'n With I"' 6 M "—' ,h:,t Nana y F«rna" 

 vese would forget all grounds of quarrel nnd jealousy, and 



