THE PEISHYVA DEFEATED. 201 



army, had agreed that if a single day should pass without 

 his hearing from Poonah, he would conclude the communi- 

 cations to have been interrupted, and hasten thither with 

 his brigade. A week, however, must necessarily elapse 

 before his arrival, and to keep the sepoys in the mean time 

 cooped up in a narrow space, harassed by the enemy's ar- 

 tillery and light-horse, would, it was feared, damp their 

 courage, and promote that tendency to desertion which had 

 already been strongly manifested. Hence the officers de- 

 termined to march out with their small corps and attack 

 their foes, who, to the amount of 26,000, were already 

 stationed in front. This movement was executed promptly, 

 and with such vigour that though the enemy's horsemen 

 made some desperate charges, and reached several times 

 the flanks of the English brigade, the latter finally remained 

 masters of the field. They had not indeed done much 

 damage to their adversary ; but the intrepidity of their 

 attack, and the degree of success gained against numbers 

 so vastly superior, changed decidedly the moral position 

 of the two armies. When General Smith, therefore, on 

 the 13th November, after fighting his way through the 

 peishwa's cavalry, arrived at Poonah, and prepared to 

 attack the Mahratta camp, that prince at once began a 

 retreat. He continued it for upwards of six months without 

 intermission, ranging over the wide extent of the Deccan ; 

 at one time approaching Mysore, at another proceeding 

 nearly to the Nerbudda, always distancing his pursuers by 

 the skill and rapidity of his march, and even passing be- 

 tween corps advancing from opposite quarters. At one 

 time he made himself sure of cutting off a division of 800 

 men destined to reinforce Colonel Burr ; but Captain 

 Staunton the commander, taking post in a village, re- 

 pulsed with desperate valour, though with severe loss, all 

 his attacks, and he was at length obliged to desist. This 

 was considered the bravest exploit performed in the whole 

 course of the war. The peishwa, finding himself now a 

 hopeless fugitive, and learning the triumphs of his enemy 

 in other quarters, made overtures for a treaty ; hoping to 

 be allowed to retain, though in a reduced condition, his rank as 

 a sovereign. But the governor-general, on considering his 

 long course of hostility, and the treacherous attack made at 

 eo critical a moment, had determined to erase his name from 



