190 PIXDAREE WAR. 



Pindaree6, had made urgent applications to be merely al- 

 lowed a place where his family might be secured from dan- 

 ger ; adding, " from it my heart may be set at ease, and I 

 may face the English with confidence. Then for once, by 

 the blessing of God and the fortune of the exalted, the tu- 

 mult shall be spread to the environs of Calcutta, the whole 

 country shall be consigned to ashes, and to such distress 

 shall they be reduced, that the accounts will not fail to reach 

 you ; but at present this must be delayed for want of a 

 place of refuge." To this Sindia's ministers replied, that 

 they could not take such a step without an immediate rup- 

 ture with the British government ; but that Cheetoo might 

 depend on their utmost aid in secret. In these circumstances 

 Lord Hastings considered it indispensable, before leaving 

 Sindia's dominions behind him, to extort his consent to. such 

 a treaty as might withdraw from him the means of a. hos- 

 tile interposition in the approaching conflict. Captain 

 Close, the resident at Gwalior, was instructed to demand 

 that he should place his troops entirely at the disposal of 

 the British government ; that he should 'furnish a contingent 

 of 5000 horse, and supply funds out of which they might 

 be supported ; finally, that he should provisionally deliver 

 up the forts of Hindia and Asseerghur, on which,, to save 

 his honour, his flag would continue to fly. There was even 

 to be a private understanding, that while the contest lasted 

 he should not quit his capital. Sindia manifested the most 

 violent opposition, first to the English entering his domin- 

 ions at all, and then to the terms attached to that movement ; 

 nor was it till Lord Hastings from one quarter, and Gene- 

 ral Donkin from another, wire each within a day's march 

 of his frontier that the treaty was reluctantly signed. 



A negotiation was next opened with Ameer Khan, and, 

 as he was a principal member of the confederation, it was 

 made a primary article thai he should disband the whole of 

 his turbulent corps. This demand was severe, for he would 

 thereby lose that on which his importance and power had 

 been entirely founded. In return he was offered the guar- 

 antee of the territories held by him under grants from Hol- 

 kar, and of which his tenure was otherwise very precarious. 

 Having submitted to the terms, the treaty was signed by his 

 agent at Delhi, on condition that a month should be allowed 

 previous to ratification ; but the stipulated period had 



